


Zoomed In

by isthatalittlebowtie (froggydarren)



Series: Zoomed In [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-11-27 03:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 23,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/657306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/isthatalittlebowtie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not like Kurt planned being a photographer. And definitely not like he planned spending hours looking at Blaine through the lens of his camera for hours, remembering all the times he used to spend looking at Blaine back in high school during glee competitions. And it's not like he keeps copies and outtakes of photos in his dark room for longer than necessary. Not at all. After all, Blaine doesn't remember him from back in the day and wouldn't waste his time on a lowly photographer, now that he's a star.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Klaine AU | Model!Blaine and Photographer!Kurt
> 
> Inspired by [this photoset](http://gleeddicted.tumblr.com/post/39836285060/klaine-au-model-blaine-and-photographer-kurt).

Kurt couldn't pinpoint the moment when photography became a "thing" for him. He always thought he'd end up in music or theatre then later on dabbled in fashion writing when he realized he'd be way too boxed in when it came to his options in either of his original career paths. The job at Vogue.com was a heaven-sent at the end, though he only applied to help his Dad with the bills while he was in New York for college. Once Isabelle, his boss, found out that he could work a camera one day when their usual photographer called out sick for a small shoot, she armed him with directions and a phone number for the photographer and his assistant and he jumped in, stumbling through that first shoot with mishaps, but emerged with usable and relatively decent photos. After that, when there was an emergency in the form of a missing camera-savvy person, Kurt was the one the whole magazine turned to and he ended up doing more photo shoots than his originally appointed work. Somewhere along the line, he found that he really enjoyed being behind the lens, directing models into positions and picking settings and clothing suitable for whatever theme he was given. He figured it combined his love for fashion and theatricality and, in a marginal way, music, since there was always a soundtrack playing in the background of each session.

That he got to look at several rather breathtaking models had absolutely _nothing_ to do with how much he enjoyed being a photographer. Nothing at all.


	2. Chapter 2

"Kurt!"

He groaned as Isabelle's voice carried across the room, because her tone implied that he would have to leave the nice, warm and comfortable office and lug himself and his entire equipment to some cold and abandoned place out in the January frost.

"Yes, Isabelle?"

"Oh quit the tone," she scolded him playfully when she spotted his eyes rolling back, "you're going to love this one."

"Sure, if I don't lose limbs to the cold," Kurt sighed, "what is it?"

"The BDA shoot."

 _Oh_.

His eyebrow quirked up and she nodded with a grin, a little too knowledgeably for Kurt's taste, but it was his own fault. The job she was referring to was a recurring one, the same model for a designer who'd declared him "her muse", not that Kurt could blame her. The model in question wasn't even a runway or photo model really, but rising Broadway star and singer Blaine Anderson. The very same Blaine Anderson whom Kurt remembered from the days he referred to as "dark times", back in Ohio.

They grew up relatively close to each other, only two hours apart, though their lives couldn't have been more different. Kurt's personal hell on Earth called Lima was nothing like the cushy and safe Westerville and the school Blaine attended, _Dalton Academy_ , whose glee club was the strongest competitor for the one Kurt was a member of at McKinley High, _The New Directions_. So of course he did know _of_ Blaine before he started gaining fans and admirers, but Kurt was also aware that he wasn't even a blimp on the radar of the star.

"But I thought Amelie was handling that one?" Kurt asked, puzzled because he had seen the girl earlier in the day.

"She was," Isabelle shrugged, "it's yours now."

"Is…"

"Don't complain, Hummel," his boss laughed, "you know you want to go."

He managed to duck his head before his blush became way too obvious and mumbled to himself about ' _insufferable meddler_ ' which Isabelle caught and rewarded with a chuckle.

"OK, OK, I give up," he sighed and leaned back in his chair, "when is it and where?"

"You have time for lunch," she looked at her watch, "the location isn't too far, but bring your warm parka, it's an empty warehouse, so heating will be scarce."

"Oh joy," Kurt groaned, "just what I need."

"Now, you have two hours, Amelie should be emailing you the set up and brainstorming right about now," he heard the tell-tale beep of a new email arriving to his phone, "and the crew will be there before you're due."

"When is Bl… Mr. Anderson due?" he asked, attempting to maintain some semblance of professionalism.

" _Blaine_ ," Isabelle smirked again, "should be there about half an hour after you. His publicist will call if they're delayed; I think he's coming out of an interview or something."

Kurt let his head fall on the desk as Isabelle walked away, then gathered up his phone and laptop, stashed them in his bag and with a sigh, headed out to get lunch.

 _This will be a long afternoon_ , he thought with a mix of excitement and dread.


	3. Chapter 3

Their first meeting had almost been a disaster and Kurt still groaned at the memory of it. He had been called in at the last minute, with the excuse from Isabelle that it was because they needed to make Blaine comfortable and since Kurt was also from Ohio, it would be perfect. He suspected she had noticed that he followed Blaine's career almost obsessively and didn't miss that Kurt played Blaine's debut album repeatedly long after it left the Top 40, but he never called her on it.

_Kurt walked in the studio still talking through details of the photoshoot's settings and plan with the photographer who had been assigned to it originally and didn't stop to look where he was going until he nearly collided with a body standing just past the door._

_"Oh my God I'm sorry," he muttered, hoping he didn't cause damage or run into someone important._

_When he focused on the person he nearly knocked over, he froze and more apologies fell out of his mouth as he realized he was staring at Blaine himself._

_"It's OK," the man smiled, "I didn't know there were more people modeling."_

_"Oh no, I'm not… I just…" Kurt stammered and blushed, "I'm not modeling," he shook his head, finding the idea ridiculous, "I'm the photographer."_

_"Are you?" Blaine looked him over with undisguised curiosity, "Nice to meet you, I'm…"_

_"Blaine Warbler Anderson," Kurt's cheeks flared red, "I'm sorry, I…" he stretched his hand out, "Kurt Hummel, pleased to meet you."_

_Blaine shook his hand and laughed, "It's been a while since someone called me that."_

_Kurt managed to get his wits together and smiled, "The Dalton Warblers, you were already a star back in Ohio."_

_"Oh?" Blaine tilted his head to look Kurt over, looking like he was rummaging through his brain for a memory._

_"We competed against each other a few times," Kurt explained, "I'm a McKinley alumnus."_

_"You beat us," the laugh echoed through the room, "Well, at least one of the years you did. Original songs were a pretty amazing idea."_

_"That one was a bit of a miracle," Kurt shrugged, "you beat us the year after."_

_"Nothing like the power of P!nk and Katy Perry," the grin on Blaine's face was open and warm, "you didn't have a solo, though, or I'm sure I'd remember you."_

_"Oh no, background only. The center stage didn't turn out to be for me."_

_"Pity," the flirty tone was now obvious to Kurt, "you'd look good in front of the camera."_

_"I'm OK behind it," Kurt smiled, "which is where I'm going to go now to get ready."_

_With that, he walked away from Blaine, glad he didn't embarrass himself entirely. Until about halfway into the session when he couldn't tear his eyes away from Blaine's back during an outfit change and Blaine turned around before Kurt could look away._

Kurt was in charge of all the other photoshoots with Blaine since then, three more since the first one, because Isabelle decided that continuity was the key to the account. He tried to get out of at least some of them, but failed each time, since any excuse was dismissed as just that and one of the sessions was even rescheduled to accommodate Kurt.

He really had not planned to look at Blaine through his camera lens again after the last one, though, and as he was finishing his lunch, he remembered the account was supposed to be closed and the campaign finished.

_Hey, why is the BDA account still live, anyway?_

The text reply from Isabelle came almost immediately, like she was waiting for him to ask.

_Personal request._

Kurt blinked at the words and for the life of him could not make sense of the response. 


	4. Chapter 3

The warehouse was freezing cold, which wasn't at all surprising to Kurt, as most places like that had no heating installed to begin with. Why they'd picked such an almost abandoned spot to hold a shoot in was yet another mystery to him, along with the reason for an extra session for the BDA account that Isabelle, he was convinced, _wouldn't_ tell him more about rather than couldn't.

"Oh hi Kurt!" Blaine's cheerful voice rang across the room when Kurt finally managed to lug the last piece of equipment up the stairs.

"You're early," Kurt said and immediately chastised himself for the snappy tone, "I'm sorry, I just… didn't expect you for another hour or so," he said quietly.

Blaine's only response was a smile and Kurt felt sufficiently embarrassed _yet again_ , reminding himself that Blaine was _important_ and therefore had to be respected. Not ordered around like the usual run-of-the-mill models who just showed up for their jobs and were regular, however good-looking, employees. Blaine Anderson was different, though, since his face was what ruled the entire fashion line they were presenting.

"The interview got cancelled," Blaine shrugged, "I figured I'd rather be early and maybe help if I can?"

The sincerity was disarming and Kurt shrunk some more, trying to regain his composure. He snuck a glance at Blaine, who was surprisingly not in top-notch clothing for once, unlike any of the other times they met. The yoga pants and worn-out T-shirt peeking out from under a warm jacket weren't his usual attire, but Kurt reminded himself that he normally only saw Blaine in the clothes from the BDA line. This was a side of Blaine he hadn't seen yet, relaxed and comfortable; a side of Blaine Kurt suddenly wished he knew better.

_Stop dreaming Hummel_ , Kurt told himself and tried to stay calm.

"Well, now that you're here," he nodded, "it will make setting up lighting a lot easier. That's if you don't mind if we don't use a stand-in."

"You normally do?" Blaine seemed surprised.

"Yeah, since you usually only get here after the initial set-up, Eric," Kurt pointed out his assistant, "normally pretends to be you for a blissful few shots. Blissful for him, since he gets to pretend to be handsome and…"

_Oh God_ , Kurt groaned and slapped a hand over his mouth, blushing, "I'm sorry, pretend I didn't say anything," he muttered from behind his fingers.

"Did you just call me handsome?" Blaine's eyes lit up with a smile, "Why would I pretend you didn't? Flattery will get you anywhere," he winked.

Kurt was thoroughly mortified at the slip of his tongue and turned to his camera bag to start pulling out lining up the lenses he'd need.

"Like you don't know you are," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else in the room.

"It's always nice to hear," Blaine's voice was a lot closer than Kurt expected it.

_It will definitely be a long afternoon_ , Kurt thought as he continued to focus on his gear, unable to look at Blaine. 


	5. Chapter 4

"So, where do you want me?" Blaine asked, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself.

"Loaded question," Eric remarked, rather unhelpfully as Kurt let him know via a glare.

"Shut up," he grumbled at Eric under his breath before he turned to Blaine, "We'll begin here," he pointed to the chair hanging off the ceiling, "we'll see how many spotlights we need."

The set up didn't take long and while they were putting up spotlights around the set _and oh, Blaine lying on the bed was already dangerous_ the make-up and wardrobe people trickled in one by one. When Kurt was happy enough with the lighting, he sent Blaine to get changed in a room off set, which, as he told himself, totally wasn't there to lower the chances of anyone getting distracted. He told himself it was just so much more convenient to have all the clothes away from the main area.

"OK, ready," Blaine strode in, already dressed in one of the suits for the line, "command me, sir."

Kurt paled at not only the way the suit fit Blaine perfectly, as expected from a line made specifically with him in mind, but also at the "sir" mention. Eric nudged him softly when it seemed like Kurt wasn't going to snap out of his haze.

"Just," Kurt gulped, "we'll do the same order as we did during the set up."

"OK," Blaine smiled and walked over to the chair, settling into it comfortably, "do you want serious or smiles?"

"Let's keep it serious," Kurt replied, "eyes into the camera for now, please."

He snapped a few photos from the camera he had set up on a tripod in the middle of the room, then grabbed a hand-held and walked a little closer, motioning to Blaine when he needed him to move.

"Wait," Kurt stopped and lowered his camera, "what's with the hair?"

A glance at the stylists only gave him a shrug in response to his query and his eyes flickered back to Blaine, who was trying to not run his fingers through the usually gelled to perfection curls. Kurt had only just realized that they weren't completely plastered to his head now, as they usually were, but a little more loose than usual.

"I am…" Blaine paused and lowered his eyes bashfully, "trying a new style?" he half-asked.

"Oh," Kurt ran his eyes over the man again, "I suppose… I hope you know what you're doing, we wouldn't want to have to force you back for a reshoot."

"No, it will definitely be fine," Blaine said a little too quickly.

"It does suit you," Kurt's cheeks heated up again as he mumbled the compliment, "you should stick with it."

"Thank you."

"Now, let's get this done before you freeze to death," the camera rose to Kurt's face again and he began snapping pictures without warning Blaine which was rewarded with a few shots that looked more like candids than styled photos.

_These are staying on my laptop_ , Kurt mused as he quickly scrolled through them during a small pause.


	6. Chapter 5

Kurt called for a warm-up break some time into the shoot, when he noticed, _totally not because he was overusing the zoom on his camera_ , that Blaine's lips were turning slightly blue. They all huddled into the small catering room that had a little more heat because of the kettles and heated food trays, all of them back in the padded parkas they discarded during the shoot. Blaine had to get rid of his for obvious reasons, Kurt and Eric for ease of movement as they moved around the set to find the best angles for photos.

"We don't have much more left," Kurt explained to Blaine and his publicist while they sipped their coffees, "it's only the last two outfits, then we can all get out and head someplace warm."

"I vote Hawaii," Blaine cracked and Kurt couldn't contain a snicker.

"Not that a vacation would be unwelcome," he laughed, "but I'm going to have to stick to New York, though definitely somewhere with heating."

"How about a hot chocolate after we're done?" Blaine asked after a few beats and Kurt's eyes jumped to his face and then scanned around them to find that they were left alone, Blaine's publicist a few steps away talking to someone on his phone.

"Wait… what?" Kurt stuttered and cursed his lack of composure.

_It's not what you think it is, Kurt_ , he reprimanded his heart for immediately skipping in anticipation.

"I just wondered," Blaine added quickly, "if I could look at the photos with you when we're done. You'll have them on your laptop straight away, won't you?"

_See, I told you so_ ," Kurt's inner voice sank along with his heart and hopes.

"Oh, of course," he nodded towards Blaine an unconvincing smile on his lips, "Yeah, I will just copy them from the memory cards. But they'll need to be edited and cleaned up and sorted…"

"Could I see them before?" Blaine's voice was soft and barely audible in the hustle of the room, "Please?"

The look in the hazel eyes that were fixed on his face was impossible to resist and Kurt nodded, wondering what he was getting himself into. He did a mental inventory of his laptop and wondered if he'd get time to make sure nothing incriminating would show up on his screen.

"Yeah OK," Kurt added to his nod, "right after the shoot, though? Aren’t you busy?"

"No," Blaine shook his head, "I had nothing else today, luckily."

"Lucky, indeed."

"But if you need to head back to the office…"

"I don't," Kurt allowed a soft smile, "Not on shoot days, though I usually do go back to abuse Photoshop."

"You've done a good job cleaning my photos up the last few times," the smile on Blaine's lips didn't carry a hint of teasing like Kurt was used to from other models and stars, "Thank you, I actually looked decent."

"I didn't need to do much with yours…" Kurt's voice faded at the line and he felt the heat rise up to his cheeks, "Unlike some others," he added quickly so he didn't give himself away.

"Now I know there are stories I will want to hear," Blaine quipped, "shall we get this over and done with then?"

Kurt nodded and breathed in relief that Blaine didn't seem to catch on to his blush or unintended fawning. 


	7. Chapter 6

The rest of the shoot luckily went swimmingly, despite the cold and the distractions for Kurt caused by Blaine's last few poses. He was glad for the camera in his face and the parka he decided to keep on, because the visuals he was seeing through the lens and his slightly overactive imagination were almost enough to send him into very inappropriate and unprofessional daydreams. Instead of letting himself float away on the images in his head, he forced them out of his brain and locked them away for another time.

"You ready to go?" Blaine asked when he walked out of the wardrobe room, now dressed down again in the yoga pants he'd arrived in.

"Just need to pack up and wait for the photos to transfer," Kurt waved in the vague direction of his laptop, "then we can figure out where to go."

"Oh I already have an idea," the bright smile was back in Blaine's face, a nice contrast to the somber mood of the photos, "seeing as I'm not dressed for a high-profile restaurant or anything. You don't mind something quieter, do you?"

Kurt shook his head, "I wouldn't know what to do somewhere that requires a three-piece, anyway."

"Pity, I bet you'd look amazing in one," Blaine grinned, "maybe I'll get the chance to see you in one someday."

With that, he left the room again, leaving Kurt reeling from the comment and all the implications were now crowding his brain in the most inconvenient way.

_He's just naturally flirty,_ Kurt managed to tell himself, _don't let your hopes fly._

But the possibility and the more than minor hope didn't leave him as he packed up the last of his gear and checked that the photos from the memory card transferred. He scanned through the folder quickly, then double-checked his laptop for possibly embarrassing things he needed to at least hide if not delete and when he calmed himself down a little, grabbed his heavy bag and set off to find Blaine.

"Not the best place to nap," Kurt quipped when he found Blaine on a windowsill, gazing dreamily out at the skyline.

"Oh sorry," Blaine scrambled off his waiting spot, "I just… I forget sometimes how beautiful the view is."

Kurt nodded, familiar with the feeling, and motioned towards the door, "shall we?"

"I can't wait to see your magic," Blaine grinned happily and winked before he headed outside.

A car was parked outside the building, obviously waiting to drive them wherever they were going and Kurt's eyebrow rose when the driver got out and opened the door for them. Blaine shrugged and slid into the backseat, his hand stretched out to grab Kurt's bag.

"Geee, what are you carrying, bricks?" he gasped when the weight almost made him drop it, "or do you just carry all your gear by yourself?"

"Not all of us have drivers and assistants and such," Kurt smirked.

Blaine blushed and his face showed a little discomfort that made Kurt immediately feel guilty.

"I'm joking!" he exclaimed quickly with an apologetic tone.

"It's OK," Blaine smiled, still a little embarrassed, "I'm just not used to it and don't think I ever will be. Now, let's get some coffee."

Kurt let himself relax into the comfortable seats, glad that his comment didn't ruin the mood.


	8. Chapter 7

"How did you end up with photography, then?" Blaine's face showed his confusion.

They were sitting in a quiet, cozy coffee shop, one with no dress code but with table service and were waiting for someone to come get their orders. Kurt had been telling Blaine about his original college plans, his musical theater ambitions and how he landed a job at Vogue kind of by accident, thanks to a makeover he organized for his best friend Rachel.

"It's not like it's my full-time job," Kurt explained, "I just jump in when there are emergencies. It's only a coincidence that all your shoots ended up that way."

"Yeah, coincidence…" Blaine muttered quietly then cleared his throat to continue at a normal volume of his voice, "But still, how did they even think of calling on you?"

"I've done the photos for Rachel's show and since that was how Isabelle found me," a smile played on Kurt's lips, showing that he was still amazed at that, "she knew I had some practice."

"I'm glad it was my photo shoot."

"It's a little funny, actually," Kurt mused, "I've only done a few others, but with yours, they seem to be eager to call me back."

"About that…" Blaine's face turned a shade of red that Kurt would've found adorable if his curiosity wasn't nagging his brain.

"Am I going to find out there wasn't really a need for me freezing my ass off for the afternoon?" he spoke up with as much nonchalance as he could manage.

The expression in Blaine's face went from embarrassed and smiling to downright petrified at Kurt's words and the blush spread further.

"There wasn't, was there?" Kurt whispered.

"Well…"

Kurt reached across the table and tentatively brushed his fingers over Blaine's hand that was clutched in a fist. Blaine looked up with a slightly apologetic expression but remained silent.

"What can I get you, gentlemen?" they both startled at the waiter's voice.

Kurt shook his head to clear his thoughts and placed his order, then listened as Blaine did the same with a trembling voice. Once the waiter was out of earshot, they turned back to each other, the contact between their hands unbroken.

"I…" Blaine gulped, "well… the shoot _was_ legitimate."

"OK?" Kurt didn't say more because he sensed there was more to it.

"But… it wasn't supposed to be done in Vogue," the words came out as a whisper, "they're mostly runway outfits."

"So someone asked for a photo spread?"

"Something like that, yes," Blaine's voice was barely audible, "there's no need to be showing these in a magazine as they're not a separate line."

"They're your red carpet outfits, aren't they?" Kurt was starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together, "not actually suits that will make it to stores or anything?"

"No, they aren't," Blaine shook his head, "or they weren't supposed to, but now you're doing the spread for Vogue, they just might."

"Why would…"

Kurt wanted to ask why the designer would want to release personal order outfits to the public, specially tailored for one person, even though the person was Blaine himself, even though they were inspired by the same person as everything else from the BDA collections. Under normal circumstances, Kurt knew, outfits designed for a particular person or event would never make it onto anything but red carpet report pages.

"I… can we look at the photos from today?" Blaine asked, completely catching Kurt off guard with the topic change.


	9. Chapter 8

"I… yes… what… of course," Kurt stammered and his train of thought was entirely derailed by the time he got those few words out, "I'll just…"

He reached for his laptop and tried to frantically unscramble his thoughts, but just in that moment, their orders were placed on the table and between trying to make space on the table and booting up his computer, he couldn't find a way to continue the earlier conversation. It didn't mean that he forgot, or that it stopped his curiosity about the reason for the shoot and everything about it. But instead of asking straight away, he decided to try and wait for a moment when it wouldn't seem that forced, hoping that he'd get answers that way.

"These are today's," he explained, opening the image viewer, "there are some that I don't have here, though."

"Why is that?" Blaine asked, genuinely curious, "I thought you said you'd just transfer them over."

"I did, they're all the ones from the digital," Kurt waved towards the screen, "but I like to do some black and white shots on classic film. Those will need to be developed later, and then scanned."

"Oh…" Blaine moved in closer and his eyes darted around the screen, "These are fantastic, Kurt."

"Thank you," Kurt managed to say, more than slightly distracted by the warmth of Blaine's body right next to him, "the subject made it easy," he grinned.

_You're flirting, what are you doing, Kurt!_ he immediately yelled at himself.

"Flattery gets you everywhere," Blaine smirked back, "I'll overlook the blatant lie, though. I'm no model, I'm sure those are easier to work with."

"Well, they do need less food breaks," Kurt laughed, glad that he didn't make Blaine uncomfortable.

Kurt's phone buzzed on the table and he quickly scanned over the text message from Isabelle, frowning a little at its content.

"Is something wrong?" Blaine's eyebrows mirrored Kurt's frown.

"Not really, just," Kurt read through the text message again, "Isabelle's wording of this message," he looked up at Blaine then dropped his eyes back to his phone, "why would she need to ask me how many pages I think the photos will take up? She'd normally know this before the shoot."

Blaine froze and suddenly seemed to be unnaturally interested in the non-existent wood pattern on the table in front of them.

"I mean, it did seem like it was a last minute arrangement, but we don't ever do a shoot before the content space has been allocated," Kurt mused on, still focusing on his phone.

"She didn't know," Blaine mumbled towards his hands, "it wasn't supposed to…"

Kurt's eyes shot up to the man next to him, eyes wide and his face a picture of confusion.

"How could she not have known?" he asked and saw the fear in Blaine's face when their eyes met.

"There wasn't supposed to be a new shoot," Blaine's voice broke, "the clothes aren't a special line, but…"

"The account was closed," Kurt whispered, "and they reopened it because of a _personal request_."

He knew his face was giving away that the pieces of the puzzle and everything he was confused about was starting to come together in his mind.

"It wasn't a request from Vogue or the designer, was it?" he directed his question at Blaine, holding his breath for an answer.


	10. Chapter 9

Kurt almost missed the way Blaine shook his head in response to his question, but then the hazel eyes looked into Kurt's and Blaine's voice reached Kurt's ears.

"No, it was mine," he let the words slip through his lips.

There was a moment of silence, a lull that should have been uncomfortable but really wasn't, as Kurt's thoughts finally clicked together and his eyes widened.

"You…" he gasped, his eyes still locked with Blaine's, "but why?"

"I just…" Blaine gulped and dropped his gaze to the table, "I wanted to… I had no other excuse to see you again," he finally managed to say.

Kurt froze and his mouth opened to say something, but no words were making their way to his lips, his brain frazzled.

_He likes me?_ was the first clear thought to surface from the chaos, _I've been daydreaming about him since the very first shoot and he… he LIKES me?_

"You… what?"

Blaine looked up at the sharp tone in Kurt's voice, eyes wide and panicky.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I overstepped and I shouldn't have done that. I don't…"

Kurt watched his flustered companion and without thinking it over too much, reached out for Blaine's hand, covering it with his own to try and calm both of them down.

"Blaine," he spoke quietly, finding some steadiness in the touch, "I have something to show you."

Kurt pulled his laptop closer and opened the folder with that day's photos up on the screen, scrolling through them with one hand while the other stayed firmly on Blaine's. When he got to the photos he wanted to show Blaine, he turned the screen around a little and heard Blaine's gasp.

"You… when did you take these?"

"In between set-ups," Kurt explained, his voice a little shaky, "these weren't for the photo spread. You weren't the one to overstep," he looked up at Blaine from the screen, "if anyone did, it was me."

Blaine was still staring at the pictures in front of him, most of them capturing him laughing at a joke or something that was said on the set, but then there were a few of him gazing out of the window while he was waiting to be called to his place.

"They're beautiful," he exhaled, "they are… is this how you see me?"

The only thing Kurt managed in that moment was a nod, his cheeks warm and red, hands shaking a little as he waited for Blaine's reaction.

"We were a little stupid, weren't we?" Blaine said with a chuckle, "me with my extra shoot operations…"

"Me sneaking in photos that I could keep…" Kurt added.

Blaine turned his hand around and linked his fingers through Kurt's, squeezing gently to get him to look up. A smile played on both their faces when their eyes met and neither could hold back the hesitant laugh.

"I was…" Kurt gathered all his courage, "I was kind of hoping…"

"Would you mind if I counted this," Blaine said after a pause from Kurt, his free hand pointing around them with a sweeping motion, "as a date?"

"I wouldn't. That's what I hoped it could be," the admission slipped from Kurt's lips easily.

"Me too," Blaine replied, "but I still want to see the rest of the photos," he laughed.

Kurt grinned, "I'm so glad you didn't actually say you want to be invited to the dark room. That would…"

"I figured I'd leave it to you to ask. Just to hear if it sounds like a lame chat up line."

They both laughed, the tension of their conversation broken.


	11. Chapter 10

They finished the dinner and coffees, chatting easily as if they'd known each other forever, none of the tension they'd both built up through the day left over.

"I still can't believe I don't remember you from the glee competitions," Blaine admitted, "I'd even tried to go through my old videos, but I just can't."

"Really, I'm not surprised," Kurt smiled, "Just about everyone was overshadowed by Rachel."

"She definitely has a stage presence," Blaine laughed, "I've noticed when we did the one showcase last year. Wait!" his eyes widened.

"Yes, I was there," Kurt blushed, "to _support Rachel_ , of course."

"Of course," Blaine smirked, "no ulterior motives involved."

"Hey," Kurt smacked Blaine's shoulder lightly, "I'm not the one arranging unnecessary photo shoots to get what I want."

The pout on Blaine's lips was so adorable that it made Kurt completely forgot everything else as he leaned over and brushed his lips against Blaine's.

"Oh," Blaine breathed out when Kurt pulled away, shocked by his own actions.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"No, don't. I wanted to do that for so long," Blaine whispered and leaned in to return the soft kiss.

Kurt's hand rose to Blaine's cheek as their kiss deepened, their eyes closed and both of them were completely oblivious to the world around them until a gentle cough interrupted the moment. A bright blush rose on both their faces as they looked up to the waitress who was standing by their table with a soft smile on her face and their bill in hand.

"Sorry," Kurt mumbled with embarrassment and dug into his bag for his wallet.

"It's OK, I'm sorry to interrupt," the waitress laughed, "but I'm afraid we're about to close, so…"

"I'll get this," Blaine whispered to Kurt, not leaving him room for protest, "thank you," he smiled at the girl as he handed over some notes, "keep the change."

"You…" Kurt began to protest, but a finger over his lips stopped him.

"Date, remember? And I was the one to ask," Blaine laughed, "if you deign me worthy of another one, it can be your turn."

"If I deign _you_ worthy… yeah, OK, because that's likely to be an issue," Kurt rolled his eyes, "you clearly needed to twist my arm for this one too."

They laughed together as they gathered up everything and Kurt sighed when he checked his watch.

"I do need to get started on editing the photos," he grumbled, "because even though this was a bit of a set up, Isabelle apparently still needs results of my work day."

"Does she?" Blaine stopped, surprised, "But…"

"It seems you just created a new line," Kurt added after he looked through the text messages he'd missed while they were eating, "which means I need to go and hide in the dark room and get the black and whites done."

Blaine pulled his own phone out and his eyebrows shot up at whatever he found there.

"You sent proofs to Isabelle during the shoot?"

"I usually do. She tends to insist on seeing things in progress so she can pipe in with ideas."

"Kurt, you…" Blaine's voice drifted off and his eyes were wide open as he scrolled through his phone.

"What?"

"Does Eric normally do his own photos?"

"No," Kurt said, confusion obvious in his voice, "why are you asking?"

Blaine just turned his phone around wordlessly, a smirk playing on his face. 


	12. Chapter 11

Kurt stared at the photo on Blaine's phone and felt his jaw slowly dropping as he tried to take in what he was looking at. There, on the small screen, was a photo of him with the handheld camera trained on Blaine in front of him, both of them focused and serious.

"How do… does Isabelle have your number?" he asked shakily after what seemed like an eternity.

"No," Blaine shook his head as he pulled his arm back, fingers back on the screen, "these are from my publicist."

"But…"

"It looks like not only did I create a new line," he chuckled, "but they want to do a 'how it happened' shoot."

"How what happened?"

Blaine frowned at his phone in concentration and looked back up, a glint in his eyes.

"Looks like, Mr. Hummel, you've been named as the art director for the shoots on top of being a photographer."

Kurt grabbed his own phone that had been buzzing on the table almost without a break and scrolled through the messages that were lighting it up.

"I'm the… wait, what?" he mumbled, his brain trying to process the information, "but… how can they say the whole account was my responsibility? I only jumped in to Amelie's set up for the first one…"

"And you rearranged it completely, remember?"

Kurt's mind wandered back to the first shoot and then he thought back on all the other ones, suddenly realizing that while he'd been only called to take the photos, he ended up changing set ups and no one said a word.

"I didn't even think it strange," he whispered more to himself than Blaine, "they just let me run with it."

"And now you're the brains behind the whole promotion for the BDA line."

Kurt slumped back in the chair and tried to remind himself to breathe, while Blaine was smiling at him happily.

"And they want to do what?"

"Another shoot, with both of us, a new line and a behind-the-scenes feel. At least, that's what my publicist emailed me."

"That's what Isabelle's texts say, but I thought she was joking."

"Clearly," Blaine grinned, "she just wanted to get you in front of the lens all along."

"Now that," Kurt sighed, "that I definitely wouldn't put past her. She's asked me for crazy things like that before."

"Crazy?"

"I don't do posing," Kurt grumbled, "I leave that to professionals."

Blaine's eyebrows shot up, "well, I did OK for someone who's not a model, didn't I?"

"I'm…" Kurt stumbled over his words, "I'm sorry, I didn't… but you're a performer and you know how to be in front of the camera and..."

"And so do you," Blaine reassured, "come on, this will be fun."

Finally, at the sight of the pleading face in front of him, Kurt sighed in resignation.

"Fine, I'll text Isabelle to arrange it," he muttered, "but I still need to get to the rest of today's photos."

Blaine hesitated for a brief moment, but eventually something in his face shifted and he looked at Kurt with determination.

"Can I come with you?"


	13. Chapter 12

"So, this is where the magic happens," Kurt said with a snarky tone as he showed Blaine into his apartment, "oh man, that's a line that needs to never be said again."

"To your credit, you didn't point to your bed," Blaine laughed.

"Not much magic happening there," the mumble slipped from Kurt's lips.

He quickly looked to Blaine to make sure the words didn't reach that far and a blush crept up his pale cheeks. That wasn't something he wanted to become a discussion topic, at least not yet. He quickly pointed in the direction of his dark room and led Blaine there, dropping his messenger bag on the way and clutching the camera bag tighter.

"Oh wow," Blaine looked around the small room with eyes wide open, "this looks so complicated," he said as he took in the equipment.

"It's not really, once you get the hang of it," Kurt shrugged, "it's been a hobby for a long time, so I invested a good bit into getting the best of the gear. That said, I could've just gotten a machine to skip a few steps of the process, but it isn't quite the same then."

"So, are you going to teach me, or should I just watch?" Blaine smiled with genuine curiosity and leaned against a counter.

"Let me get the solutions and baths ready," Kurt pulled the camera out and set it on the table across the room, "then we'll see how quick you are at learning."

"Sounds like a challenge to me, Mr. Hummel," a smirk played on Blaine's lips, "I may surprise you, you never know."

"You already did," Kurt said before he could think.

Before the echo of the words faded away, Blaine took the two necessary strides to bring him across the room to Kurt, and his hands wrapped around Kurt's waist, then turned him around.

"You surprised me too," he whispered and brushed his lips against Kurt's.

The kiss remained gentle and tentative to Kurt's surprise and he suppressed the urge to let his want seep into it. He felt Blaine's fingers dig softly into his hips and wrapped his arms around Blaine's shoulders. Their faces had identical blushes when they finally pulled away and Kurt cleared his throat.

"And you keep surprising me," he smirked at Blaine, "but now, we have work to do. Can you get the light so we can get started?"

Blaine nodded and walked over to flip the switch, bathing the room in soft red light. Once Kurt started the process, he got lost in the routine and almost forgot to explain the steps to Blaine. They worked alongside each other in silence and Blaine got the hang of everything quickly. When the photos started appearing on the paper moments later, Blaine stepped back and fixed his eyes on them in amazement.

"You are incredible," he whispered into Kurt's ear.

"It's chemistry," Kurt pointed to the trays as he was processing the pictures.

"No, not that," Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt as he moved closer, "taking the photos, making people look like… that," he motioned towards one of the photos.

" _That_ is you," Kurt chuckled.

"I still can't believe this is what you see when you look at me."

Kurt finished the last print in the batch he was working on and turned to Blaine with a smile on his face.

"This and more," he whispered and barely got the words out before Blaine's lips were on his again.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry for the delay in updating. :( Thank you for being patient!

A timer beeped somewhere in the room and they pulled away from each other reluctantly. Kurt shook his head to clear the haze he'd been in since Blaine began kissing him and he blinked in disbelief when he realized how much time had actually passed.

"We should…" he started, but promptly forgot the words when Blaine's hand found his.

"Kurt, I…" Blaine whispered, "I should head out."

"Oh," the disappointment in Kurt's tone was obvious, "yeah, OK."

"No, I mean," the urgency seeped through Blaine's voice, "I just need to go back to my place and change and… it's getting late and I'm sure you need to get to these," he pointed to the prints hanging around the room."

"I do," Kurt nodded reluctantly, "and I have a feeling Isabelle's been blowing up my phone with questions and who knows what else."

"Can I…" Blaine hesitated for a split second, "could I have your phone number?"

Kurt, instead of rattling off his number or looking for a business card, pulled Blaine out of the darkroom and towards the hall where he'd left his bag. He dug around for his phone and handed it out to Blaine, a blush creeping into his pale cheeks.

"Would you mind putting yours in?" he asked quietly and couldn't stop the grin at Blaine's eager grab for the phone.

"Got it," Blaine handed the phone back with a smile.

Kurt looked at the screen and laughed when he saw that Blaine entered his name as _Blaine Warbler_ , then pressed the call button and heard a familiar tune from Blaine's pocket.

" _Teenage Dream_? Really?"

"Nothing wrong with the song," Blaine jutted his bottom lip out in a pout, a gesture that made Kurt want to kiss him again, "now that I have your number, I can commence phase two of my stalking plan."

"Uh-oh, should I be worried?"

"Only if you really, _really_ don't like my attempts to charm you."

"Oh is that what you were doing?" Kurt laughed and stepped closer to Blaine, "I don't know, Mr. Anderson, we might need to have a talk about professional behavior."

"Do we? I was under the impression you didn't mind too much," Blaine reached around Kurt's waist and pulled him closer.

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"You have really kissable lips, did you know?" the whisper brushed against Kurt's cheek.

"Do I?" Kurt shivered as Blaine's lips traced the outline of his jaw.

"I wish I could stay here and just kiss you all night," Blaine mumbled before sliding his lips against Kurt's gently, "but unfortunately," he groaned as his phone started buzzing again, "duty calls and I think my manager is about to have a heart attack," he glared at his phone.

"Well if you really _need_ to go," Kurt sighed dramatically, but immediately cracked a smile, "I do need to unleash the editing programs on the photos, though, or Isabelle will have my head."

"No, can't have that. Your head comes with your lips and I'm rather fond of those," Blaine smirked.

"I'll let you know when I find out more about her evil plan with this new photoshoot," Kurt grumbled, "now go, before I decide to lock you up in the darkroom."

"Now there's an idea…"

"Go," Kurt laughed, "I'm sure your driver out there is about to start going crazy from all the waiting."

Blaine smiled and kissed Kurt one more time before dashing out of the door, not caring how disheveled he looked.

_Now that would be one for the gossip magazines_ , Kurt thought with amusement before he slipped back into the darkroom to get working.


	15. Chapter 14

"Isabelle!" Kurt bellowed across the office when he arrived there the next morning, "Don't even pretend you're not here, I saw your car!"

"Maybe I just left it here last night," came the voice from Isabelle's office.

"Sure you did," Kurt rolled his eyes, his voice lower now he was walking past her door, "like you would leave your baby unattended."

"OK, OK, you found me," she laughed, "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you somehow roped me into being in front of a camera and posing for pictures, despite my _repeated_ protests against it for… how long have I been working here?" Kurt glared at her, his hands on his hips.

"Long enough for me to know that I need to keep trying and you'll give in eventually," Isabelle smirked, "You'll do the shoot, won't you?"

"Do I even have the option not to?"

"No, not really," her smirk widened, "but don't tell me there's nothing in it for you."

"I…" a blush crept into Kurt's face and he suddenly found the detailing on Isabelle's desk fascinating.

"Sit, talk to me. How is _Mr. Anderson_?"

"Don't mock me, Isabelle," Kurt grumbled, "and Blaine is fine."

"Oh, that much I knew," she chuckled, "if by nothing else then by your photos. Good work on the shoot yesterday by the way, those were some of your best."

"Thank you," Kurt whispered.

"A little birdie tells me the two of you had a date after," she opened and Kurt's eyes flew to hers.

"Eric."

"Yes, Eric, not that it matters," Isabelle smiled warmly, "so how was the date?"

"It wasn't a date," Kurt shook his head, "we just went for coffee and to look at the photos, then you texted about the new shoot. Well, you and Blaine's manager."

"And nothing else happened?"

Kurt hesitated long enough for Isabelle's eyebrow to lift in a _'come on, spill, I know there's more'_ way and he sighed in defeat. Then, before he could stop himself, he told her about the kiss and that Blaine came to help with the photos.

"But hey, it probably means nothing much," he ended and slumped against the back of the chair.

"The boy arranged a photoshoot just so he could see you again, Kurt," Isabelle laughed, "I doubt it meant nothing to him."

Just as she finished, Kurt's phone buzzed in his pocket and he attempted to play it cool for a moment as he pulled it out. All pretence was forgotten when he saw Blaine's name flash on the screen and he quickly opened the text message.

"Speaking of the man of the hour," Isabelle's smile widened.

Kurt rolled his eyes at her and scanned through the text message, slightly disappointed that it only mentioned the upcoming shoot.

"His manager is arranging the details for the behind-the-scenes feature," Kurt explained, "they'll obviously need me there, so he's letting me know to tell my _boss_ ," he pointed to Isabelle, "when I won't be in the office."

"I'm sure I'll hear more about that soon," she nodded, "not like I'd stop you."

"Yeah, that's it," Kurt sighed.

Isabelle frowned at Kurt and opened her mouth to chastise Kurt for his negativity and doubt. Then she saw something in his eyes that made her stop and hesitate.

"This isn't just a simple crush, is it?" she said quietly and Kurt looked up at her, his eyes showing more fear she'd ever seen in them.

"I like him," he admitted in a whisper.

"Sweetie, he likes you back," Isabelle reached for Kurt's hand to hold his attention.

"I don't know."

"I do," she reassured and startled as a knock on the door echoed through the room, "and this might make you feel a little better," she added as she pointed towards the door.

"Hey you," Kurt almost jumped as the familiar voice came from the entrance, "I hope it's OK that I'm visiting you at work?"

"Sure, we were just finished," Isabelle laughed at Kurt's shocked expression, "go, take him out to lunch or something, he's no use to me today."

"It's not even ten," Kurt protested feebly.

"Well, don't come back until after lunch then. Now shoo, important business decisions need to be made here," she flicked her wrist towards the door.

"Lies," Kurt grinned, no longer hesitating, "you just want to snoop through the new collections by yourself."

"Hush you, no revealing secrets," Isabelle answered with a chuckle, "I'll share my findings if you bring good gossip in the afternoon."

"We'll see," he smiled warmly, "thank you."

Isabelle nodded and Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand without second thought as he led the man out of the office and straight for the elevator, only just grabbing his bag as they passed Kurt's desk.

"What now, Mr. Anderson?" he teased once they were alone.

"This first," Blaine smiled and pulled Kurt closer for a kiss.


	16. Chapter 15

When the doors slid open on ground floor, they pulled away from each other, their faces carrying matching blushes. Kurt was still catching his breath when he felt Blaine's fingers wrap around his and the tug that pulled him out of the elevator and into the lobby.

"Come on," Blaine laughed, "Let's get out of here."

"And where are we going?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow as they reached the car that was predictably waiting for Blaine.

"Not sure yet, but I'll figure something out," Blaine shrugged, "get in."

As the car moved off the Vogue building, Kurt started wondering just how fast Blaine would be able to arrange anything like reservations for brunch. He watched as Blaine's fingers worked over the screen on his phone, obviously texting someone, but giving no hints as to where they were going.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Blaine's face lifted from the screen only long enough for Kurt to shake his head.

"What are you…?"

"You'll see," Blaine mumbled, still engrossed in his phone.

Instead of wasting energy on trying to figure out Blaine's planning, Kurt pulled out his own phone and tried to read and work through some of his emails. It didn't take long to realize he didn't have the necessary focus for that, so instead he let his mind wander to the upcoming shoot he would have to be a part of.

"Hey," Blaine interrupted just as Kurt's mind was starting to drift off into dangerous territory, "where did you just go?"

"What? Me? Nowhere," Kurt rambled as his cheeks heated up.

"Sure," a smirk appeared on Blaine's lips, "It seemed like a good place, I was just wondering if you'd share."

_Oh I was sharing_ , Kurt thought, _not quite ready to disclose those thoughts yet, though._

"I was just…" he stumbled over his words, "thinking about the shoot we have coming up."

"Oh that," Blaine smiled, curiosity obvious in his expression, "Did you come up with anything good yet?"

"No, just stray ideas," Kurt's shoulders slumped in obvious relief that the topic changed, "I might not come up with anything until we're there. Plus, Amelie is shooting so I might not even be given artistic license to decide."

"Ha, like they'd let someone else take over," Blaine chuckled, "it's about your choices on the campaign, after all."

Kurt shrugged, knowing how fickle decisions could be on things like that, but the he realized the car was now stationary.

"Where are we?" he peeked out of the window.

"You'll see," Blaine laughed and reached out for Kurt's hand, "let me surprise you," he whispered as he tugged gently to get Kurt moving outside.

"Are you trying to impress me, Mr. Anderson?" Kurt laughed when he saw the restaurant they were at, "I didn't know they opened for breakfast."

"They don't," Blaine shrugged, "but someone there owed me a favor. And _yes_ , I am very much trying to impress you."

"Well, consider me thoroughly wooed," Kurt batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly, pretending to swoon.

"Don't make fun of me!" Blaine pouted, "I just…"

They stopped in the entrance and Kurt looked at Blaine with curiosity as the other man blushed and muttered to himself.

"Look, I…" Blaine finally spoke up more clearly, "I really like you. A lot."

"Blaine," Kurt whispered and squeezed Blaine's hand in his, "I like you, too. There's no need to impress or woo."

"But I want to," Blaine smiled, relieved and a little giddy, "let me? Please?"

"I can't say no to that," laughter rang through Kurt's voice, "or maybe I just can't say no to you."

"We'll revisit _that_ note at a more appropriate time," Blaine winked, "come on, brunch time," he pulled Kurt inside the restaurant.


	17. Chapter 16

"Gentlemen," the chef himself came to greet them and briefly apologized for the lack of a maître d' or usual wait staff because the restaurant wasn't open officially, "please follow me."

"Blaine," Kurt whispered, "how are we going to… they don't actually _have_ a brunch menu, do they?"

"Well no," Blaine shrugged, "but Antoine here likes a challenge."

"That I do," the chef laughed, "all you need to do is tell me what you'd like and I'll work my magic. As long as it doesn't require me going hunting, I think my staff and I will manage."

Kurt was still more than a little overwhelmed, unused to the amount of attention or special treatment. Blaine noticed his discomfort and reached for Kurt's hand.

"It's not like I'm imposing," he smiled reassuringly, "Antoine's tried to get me to come in to test his new creations on me for quite a while, but I never had the time, or the need to impress someone."

"Again," Kurt finally managed a relieved smile, "consider me suitably impressed."

"Now, I'll leave you two to think about what you'd like," Antoine excused himself, "I'll be back in a moment."

Kurt watched the chef disappear through the kitchen door and sighed as he turned back to Blaine.

"This is too much pressure," he grumbled, "How am I supposed to just come up with something on the spot?"

"Do you have a favorite dish?" Blaine smiled softly, "Or something you liked when you were a child? You can think of something you've good memories of and see if Antoine can recreate it."

Kurt frowned as he thought back to special meals he had particularly fond memories of, but because he was trying so much, nothing came to mind.

"Don't try so hard," Blaine reached for Kurt's hand across the table, "we can just ask for drinks for now and talk. I'm sure your stomach will give you ideas soon."

"Oh!" Kurt exclaimed just as Blaine finished speaking, "I've got an idea."

"Good, let me call Antoine back," Blaine stood up and headed for the kitchen.

When the chef reached them, Kurt was ready to explain what he was suddenly in the mood for and once he finished talking, he caught Blaine just staring at him in awe.

"What?"

"Just… you. That must've been some good memory that you remembered."

"It was…" Kurt began cautiously, "Why?"

"You completely lit up talking just now," Blaine was smiling brightly, "It makes me want to create memories for you that will do the same."

Blushing, Kurt reached for Blaine's hand and tangled their fingers.

"You already did," he whispered with a smile.

They both stayed silent until Antoine reappeared with their plates and Kurt was staring at his plate, suddenly overwhelmed with flashbacks from his childhood.

"I take it I've not done a hack job of it then?" Antoine smiled at Kurt's mesmerized face, "Have a taste first, just to be sure."

Kurt lifted a fork cautiously and cut off a piece of the pancake on the side, still in shock how much the food _looked_ like what he remembered. He dipped it into the sauce on the side of the plate and practically moaned when the bite reached his taste buds.

"Perfect," he managed so say once he finished chewing and swallowed, "I'd almost think you called my Dad for the recipe. But then, he wouldn't have it, since it was my Mom's and he never managed to make it just _so_."

"I'm glad I did then," Antoine smiled fondly, "Enjoy, gentlemen and call out if you need anything."

He walked off towards the kitchen again and Kurt looked across the table at Blaine.

"What?" he frowned as he saw Blaine's surprised face.

"You and … that moan…" Blaine's cheeks reddened, "Never mind. I'm sorry. My thoughts are all kinds of inappropriate right now."

"Care to share?" Kurt smirked in a tone that was so flirty that it caught him off guard too.


	18. Chapter 17

Kurt watched as Blaine's cheeks turned an even darker shade of red, pretty sure that the thoughts were on the same level as his own, entirely unsuitable for daylight and brunch hour.

"Maybe some other time," Blaine mumbled in response and his eyes dropped to the quickly emptying plate.

"OK," Kurt couldn't suppress the grin filled with anticipation, "topic change. I wanted to pick your brain on ideas for the torture I've been roped into."

"The behind the scenes shoot?"

"Yeah, because short of trying to get another collection and just pretending we're doing a new spread for Vogue, I'm out of ideas."

"Well, that's not the worst idea, though I don't know how we'd go about pulling a whole new collection out of thin air," Blaine sighed, "you're the photography genius here."

"I'm nowhere near a genius," Kurt grumbled, "You're forgetting I just fell into doing all that without any preparation or conscious forethought."

 "You've done well handling this as you go," Blaine pointed out, "maybe that's all we need to do, be on a set and see what happens."

They finished their meals in silence and Kurt tried to not stare at Blaine too often. It helped calm him that more often than not, whenever he looked up to Blaine, their eyes met and it was obvious that Blaine was having just as hard a time keeping his eyes off Kurt.

"Got any more wooing plans for today, Mr. Anderson?" Kurt teased when they finished up and walked out of the restaurant, "because I'm not sure I can handle more."

"You should get used to it," Blaine laughed as he reached for Kurt's hand, "Is this OK?" he nodded towards their entwined fingers.

The only thing Kurt managed was a nod as he blushed shyly, his earlier flirty boldness gone again.

"I suppose I should get you back to work," Blaine sighed with resignation, "when is this shoot supposed to happen anyway?"

"Isabelle said whenever we both have time, so we should compare schedules," Kurt explained, "do you want to come into the office and we can figure a time?"

Blaine nodded and they slowly walked towards the car that he'd called a few moments before they left. Once they reached Vogue and before they entered the building, Blaine pulled Kurt closer for a kiss that left them both breathless.

"I wanted to do that all morning," he muttered when their lips parted.

"Me too," Kurt replied in a hushed tone, "I could get used to this."

With a laugh, they walked past the lobby and into the elevator, locking their lips together again the moment the door closed behind them. By the time they reached Kurt's floor, they were both out of breath and Kurt bit his lip as he noticed his slightly disheveled appearance in the mirror walls. Isabelle was sitting on a sofa in front of their offices, a knowing smile playing on her lips.

"You look like you had a good brunch," she quipped when they walked in, hands still firmly clasped together, "you're back early."

"We've got a shoot to plan," Kurt threw her a death glare, "thanks to you."

"Well, go then," she laughed, "make sure the door is locked though!" she called out after them.

"Oh my God," Kurt groaned as the door clicked closed behind Blaine's back, "I am _so_ sorry. Let's just," he moved quickly towards his desk, feeling the heat rise in his cheeks, "let's look at the schedules and get this over with."

He focused his eyes on the computer screen, trying his best to ignore the images that Isabelle's comment brought to his mind.


	19. Chapter 18

"I'm just going to quietly ignore the fact that our notification systems for schedules are near identical," Kurt looked and Blaine out of the corner of his eye and tried to match up their calendars, "because that's not weird or anything."

"Maybe it's an Ohio thing?" Blaine offered with a smile.

"Did you come up with yours?"

"Well, no, but my manager is from Ohio, too, so it's possible."

"A lot of things are. OK, let's focus here," Kurt turned back to the calendars and highlighted free times in his with a well-practiced click, then glanced at Blaine's.

"There's no way we can arrange anything for tonight, but then the next time we're both free for enough time is not until two weeks from now."

"Will that do for Isabelle?" Blaine questioned and Kurt was already messaging her through on Vogue's internal IM system.

"Looks like it will," he replied when the IM window lit up, "You might want to check with your manager, though."

"This will suffice," Blaine nodded to his phone as he added the shoot to his calendar, "I'll know in about… now, if he's approved it," the screen lit up with a message as he was still speaking, "We're good to go."

"So I have two weeks to come up with an idea," Kurt leaned back in his chair, "and short of just renting that same warehouse and running in with a blank slate, I have no ideas."

"That's not entirely a bad idea, though," Blaine leaned on Kurt's desk, "or maybe we should recreate one of the previous shoots?"

"No, that would just end up looking fake," Kurt grumbled, "a new one would technically be best, but since we have no new collection…"

They both went silent for a few minutes, lost in their minds and trying to come up with something that would potentially result in a solid plan. Kurt soon felt his mind drift to the evening after the last shoot, when they both finally admitted their interest in each other.

"How would you feel about the darkroom again?" he blurted and immediately blushed as the unintentional meaning registered in his mind.

"I like your darkroom," Blaine grinned, "but since this is probably leading to a plan for the photoshoot, I'll need a little bit more detail."

Kurt bit his lip at Blaine's raised eyebrow before he started explaining his idea. Blaine nodded through it and as the thoughts spilled from Kurt's lips, they both smiled brighter, knowing that it would work perfectly.

"Oh Isabelle will _love_ this," Kurt bounced in his chair excitedly, "well, I hope she will but if she doesn't I'll convince her. Or you can charm approval out of her."

"You want me to charm your boss?" Blaine questioned, looking shocked.

"I… what… No! It's just… I was just…"

"I know," Blaine laughed at Kurt's stammering and blush, "Just joking. I wouldn't want to try and charm anyone but you anyway. Now, do you want to run the idea by Isabelle and maybe get out early?"

"Blaine! I just spent the morning out of the office!"

"And you can march right back out," Isabelle quipped from the door, startling them both, "I did say Kurt's no use to me today, didn't I?"

"But…" Kurt began but quickly stopped himself, grabbed his bag and jacket and then reached for Blaine's hand, heading for the door, "come on. This will never ever happen again."


	20. Chapter 19

"I feel like we've done this just now," Blaine laughed when they stopped in front of the building, "But… what now?"

"No immediate wooing plans, Mr. Anderson?" Kurt quipped and then laughed softly at Blaine's blush, "that's fine, maybe _I_ will come up with something this time."

"You have my attention, Mr. Hummel, lead the way."

Their hands stayed linked all the way through the few blocks to the park that Kurt chose as their destination. The small café was still busy from the lunch hour, but not enough that they'd be stuck for a table. When Blaine tried to head off to the counter to order for them, Kurt stopped him with a stern look.

"You got brunch, I'm getting this one," he stated and made a point of staring at the table they snatched up until Blaine set down with a sigh.

Once he was back with their drinks, the conversation started back up easily and they ran through more details for the photo shoot plan, then changed to talking about random topics like they had earlier in the day.

"I like this," Blaine smiled softly, his fingers playing gently with Kurt's on top of the table, "it's so different from back home."

Kurt shot him a questioning gaze, wondering what Blaine was talking about.

"I can do this," Blaine brought Kurt's hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles, "and no one will as much as bat an eyelid," he said by way of explanation.

"Oh," Kurt's mind brought up memories from his high school years, "yeah, that's certainly different," he whispered in a strained voice.

"I can't even imagine," Blaine looked torn between enjoying the feel of the moment and shuddering at memories they obviously both had, "I mean, I had Dalton, and that made it easier as long as I stayed within the walls. But public school…"

They talked about their experiences for a moment, both acknowledging how glad they were that it toughened them up, but also that it was over.

"OK, cheer up time," Kurt grinned when the mood was settling to be a little too gloomy, "it's my day off, can we do something fun?"

"Well, there is an ice skating rink just there," Blaine pointed outside the window.

"Oh no," Kurt paled, "I said fun, not life-threatening."

"I could teach you."

"Sure you could. I could also fall and break my arm," Kurt grumbled, but already knew he was fighting a losing battle, "or rip my clothes or something."

"Do you think I'd let something happen to you?"

Their eyes met and Kurt couldn't help but smile at the warmth and care he saw in Blaine's. It still caught him off guard, but he let it wash over him and then finally, moments later, nodded.

"OK, let's try. I _will_ come up with something suitably painful if I fall or tear something, though."

"I'll take that as a challenge," Blaine laughed and held his hand out for Kurt to take, "come on and let me teach you to dance on ice."

"Hey, no one said anything about dancing!" Kurt pretended to protest, but giggled as they walked out the door.


	21. Chapter 20

"So you survived that one," Blaine laughed when they finally sat down to take off their skates.

"Only just," Kurt grumbled and then admitted reluctantly, "It _was_ fun though."

They changed back into their shoes and handed the rental skates back at the stand, then headed outside, both a little at a loss for what to do next.

"Would you…" Kurt's voice skipped as he considered his next few words carefully, "Would you like to come over to mine for a while?"

He watched as Blaine's eyes widened and a grin tugged on the soft lips that Kurt had been eyeing all afternoon with increasing interest.

"How about we get some takeout on the way," Blaine offered.

"And a movie, maybe? I mean, we could find a cinema and see what's showing or…"

"No, I…" Blaine bit his bottom lip sheepishly, "I'd rather spend some time with you alone."

"We were alone most of the day, Blaine," Kurt giggled teasingly.

"You know what I mean," Blaine nudged his shoulder into Kurt's as they walked down the street, "and it's not with any ulterior motives either, honestly."

"Mhm, sure," Kurt winked.

"Why, do _you_ have any plans you're not letting me in on?"

Kurt blushed and snuck a glance at Blaine, who was chuckling quietly.

"Well, I'd hardly start telling you now if I didn't want you to know, would I?"

"Point taken," Blaine conceded, "let's get some food, all that skating has left me starving."

"Well, at least with your exercise regime, you at least won't feel like you got run over by a truck," Kurt sighed, already feeling the strain in his muscles.

"Just _how_ do you know about my exercise regime," Blaine eyed him with amusement and curiosity.

"From your monologue about it during one of the shoots," Kurt laughed, "the one with the summer line when the poor assistant tried to really obviously flirt with you and you just launched into explanations of your gym schedule."

"She was… what?" a look of shock washed over Blaine's face and made Kurt laugh.

"You didn't even notice, did you?"

Blaine shook his head and gazed back to Kurt, "I was a bit too focused on someone else in the room that day."

It was Kurt's turn to blush before he grabbed Blaine's hand to change their direction, "come on, there's this place that I want to get food from. You can start thinking what movie we'll watch."

Loaded with takeout boxes and multiple DVDs, they fell into the door of Kurt's apartment, both still laughing from the conversation they'd had on the way about backstage stories from their high school days.

"Do we need to warm these up?" Blaine asked, pointing to the food.

"No, they should be fine," Kurt replied as he set his load down on the coffee table, "I'll just… I'll be back in a minute, OK? Load up the first movie?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt caught the glance in his direction as he walked into his bedroom. He briefly considered changing into something more comfortable, but he was too eager to get back out to Blaine. The movie's intro screen was just pulling up on the screen and Blaine was sorting through the boxes when Kurt walked back into the room, trying to ignore the nervous vibrations running through him.

He settled on the couch next to Blaine and accepted the chopsticks quietly then his eyes flicked to the TV.

"Really? We're starting off with a romance?" he looked over to Blaine who just shrugged.

"I figured blood and explosions weren't the best while we're eating."

"That's a good point," Kurt laughed and leaned back, his knee brushing against Blaine's, "start it up then."


	22. Chapter 21

"Blaine," Kurt said quietly and turned as he felt a weight against his shoulder.

Instead of getting a response, he saw Blaine leaning against his side, eyes closed and breathing even. They were on the third movie and both of them had spent most of it pretending to not yawn. Kurt shifted Blaine until he was lying down, then stood up to find some blankets and smiled when he watched Blaine curl up and burrow under them. Once he figured that Blaine was comfortable enough and chuckled at the content murmurs from the couch, Kurt dragged himself to his room, tiredness taking over more strongly. He pushed through his nighttime routine and was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

A loud bang echoed through the apartment and woke Kurt up what seemed to him like only moments later.

"Shit!" he heard the muffled grumble from the living room.

"Blaine?" he called out and climbed out of bed.

"I'm sorry," a blushing Blaine was holding his leg and jumping on the spot, "I tried to be quiet but the coffee table and I…"

"What were you trying to do?" Kurt questioned with a smile.

"Clean up? I felt bad about just passing out and thought tidying up would repay you a bit for letting me sleep and…"

"You're rambling," Kurt was now laughing, "OK, let's finish this up and I'll get you a change of clothes."

"I… what?"

"Well you can't really go back out in the same clothes that you slept in. Gross," a shudder ran through Kurt's body, "you can borrow some of mine."

They worked fast on cleaning up the mess from their dinner the night before then Kurt disappeared into his bedroom to get Blaine some clothes. Not even a minute later, he stuck his head out of the door.

"Do you have to be anywhere today?" he questioned.

"No, do you?"

Kurt shook his head and walked over to his closet, rummaging until he found the comfortable sweatpants he wanted. Blaine was eyeing him suspiciously when he spotted the clothes and Kurt couldn't hold back the laugh.

"What? I do own yoga pants and things like that."

"I am actually genuinely surprised," Blaine smirked, "in the interest of full disclosure."

"The bathroom is that way," Kurt pointed, "go, before I decide to toss you out and do the walk of shame."

"That wouldn't work, seeing as I've nothing to be ashamed of," the laughter faded when Blaine rushed into the bathroom to avoid a pillow flying in his direction.

Kurt changed into his most comfortable pants and a hoodie, then checked his phone, predictably finding multiple "how is your date day going?" messages from Isabelle. He was just looking for his charger when Blaine walked out of the bathroom, his curls wet and messy, T-shirt clinging to his arms since it was a little tighter than it would've been on Kurt and the sweatpants…

… Kurt gulped and wondered just how well he'd thought the clothing choice through.


	23. Chapter 22

By the end of the day, spent leisurely hanging out in Kurt's apartment for the most part, Kurt was pretty sure that the clothing choice he made for both of them was anything but smart. His own yoga pants left little to the imagination and he'd run through the whole arsenal of "I could really go for a bath in ice cubes" thoughts. Luckily, Blaine had some of his clothes delivered so they could leave for lunch and it hit Kurt yet again that he was spending his time with someone famous, but the nerves soon faded in their laughter.

"So will you actually let people in here, or are you staging the darkroom on set?" Blaine enquired, his face bathed in the red light of the room.

"Oh," Kurt's eyes flew to Blaine's, "I didn't think of that."

"I'd suggest here, but that would mean someone else in your place. I mean, we're both meant to be in the photos, so it's not like we can do selfies for the whole shoot."

"No, we can't," Kurt was deep in thought, "I wonder if Isabelle would protest against getting a darkroom set. Or finding a suitable location that is not… well, mine."

"But now that you mention it…"

"What are you thinking?"

"Are you nearly done here?" Blaine queried and Kurt could see the gears in his mind spinning.

"We can go, these are OK to leave now and the light can come on."

They walked back into the apartment and Blaine seemed to be hesitating to voice the thought he had moments earlier.

"OK, spit it out," Kurt smirked, "you look like you're going to explode with ideas."

"Would you be opposed to me borrowing one of your cameras?"

"Why?" Kurt shot back automatically.

Blaine explained his idea and Kurt admitted it made sense within the theme of the shoot and handed one of his digital cameras to Blaine.

"I have zero idea how this works, though," Blaine pointed to the camera that was in his hands, "teach me?"

"Oh young grasshopper, let me show you the secrets," Kurt quipped and reveled in Blaine's responding laugh.

"You know you'll have to pose for me now, right?"

When the thought registered, Kurt grumbled.

"I didn't think that one through, obviously."

"Well, you've no other choice, Mr. Hummel. Do you need to go get refreshed? Clearly, you're already pretty enough so any improvements on that part are unnecessary."

"You're incorrigible," Kurt laughed and leaned in for a soft kiss, "Come on, then, do your worst."

"Is that how little you think of my photography skills?"

"I've seen nothing yet, I'll reserve the judgment for the photos themselves. Now… how do you want me?"

"Loaded question, that," Blaine quirked up his eyebrow and Kurt blushed as his words sunk in, "but for now, stay where you are."

"I should warn you, I'm really not good at posing," the mumble came as the camera pointed at Kurt's face, "maybe you should give me pointers, since you're basically a pro by now."

"OK, here's one," Blaine laughed, "someone told me this at the first BDA line shoot: 'Be yourself'."

"Right, fine, throw my own words into my face, sure."

"Well, it worked then, didn't it?"

Kurt grudgingly acknowledged that it did, then tried to relax against the bookshelf he was standing next to, all too aware of the lens and eyes focused on him.

"Smile, beautiful," Blaine said quietly and the first click of the shutter echoed through the room.


	24. Chapter 23

"You're actually…" Kurt paused, eyes still trained on the photos, "These are really good."

"I had a great subject," Blaine smiled from the camera, snapping photos of Kurt again.

"OK, no more camera for you, you're a little too trigger happy," they both laughed as Kurt tried to wrangle the camera out of Blaine's hands, "we need to run this past Isabelle and see what she did about the other locations."

"Do you think this will work?"

"Let me email her a few of these and see," Kurt was already booting up his laptop, "tell me again why I'm voluntarily providing her with photos of myself?"

"For the greater good, Kurt," Blaine said solemnly.

Kurt sent the email quickly and set the computer aside, leaning back on the couch.

"What are we doing with the rest of our day?"

"Would you care for heading out?"

"That depends entirely on what 'going out' means to you."

"A little dancing, a little drinking," Blaine rolled his eyes as Kurt frowned, "I said _a little_."

"I don't dance or drink."

"Lies, Mr. Hummel, they're all lies. OK, I don't know about the drinking and that's entirely optional, but you were in Glee, so you do dance."

"Let me rephrase it," Kurt glared but couldn't hold back the smile, "I don't dance _anymore_."

"I'll work on that one," Blaine stated, the challenge clear in his voice, "OK, no clubbing tonight, dinner and a movie then?"

"Are you trying to charm me, Mr. Anderson?" Kurt winked.

"Always."

They settled on ordering in and putting a DVD on, despite Kurt's protests that they'd get sick of the four walls of his apartment way too soon. Blaine cut him off quickly with a kiss and a mumbled "you're here, there's no way I'd get sick of this place" which Kurt responded to with a blush.

Eventually, Blaine had his manager text him enough times about meetings for the next day that he gave in and left to his own place, leaving Kurt to mull over the previous few days. He wondered a little whether they were getting attached to each other a little too much and too soon, but brushed it off because he knew he wouldn't be able to back off or slow down.

The next day in the office, Isabelle basically squealed at him about the plan for the shoot and they worked their way through locations for the parts that needed them. The plan was to split the shoot into stages of creating a magazine spread and that luckily involved places like the Vogue closet and their own offices, which Isabelle had already locked down for the day of the shoot. With the idea Blaine had for the part of developing photos, that only left one location and they managed to secure that easily.

"Hey," Kurt smiled into his phone, "how's the schedule going on your end? We've run through everything here, but I need to confirm tomorrow. Is it still OK?"

"Wait…" Blaine whispered hurriedly to someone on the other end of the call, "Yeah, we're still good; apparently you're lucky that I'm free."

"Well I wouldn't want to keep you from _important business_ ," Kurt laughed.

"Don't mock me."

Kurt could imagine the pout in Blaine's face and couldn't stop the chuckle escaping from his mouth at the image.

"And now you're laughing at me, great," Blaine grumbled, "fantastic, my boyfriend is mocking me and laughing at me, what did I do to deserve this?"

"Wait…" Kurt held his breath as the words registered, "Boyfriend…?"


	25. Chapter 24

"Oh god, I… is that OK? I assumed, but I probably shouldn't have and…" Blaine rambled into the phone, " _oh hush no wait, I messed something up here, give me a minute_ ," Kurt heard him tell someone away from the phone, "Kurt? I'm… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed, I just…"

"Blaine," Kurt's smile grew, "it's… I like that."

"Oh. Oh thank God, I thought I messed up," the relief in Blaine's voice was obvious.

"No, you didn't. You definitely didn't."

"Boyfriend," Blaine said again, letting the word roll off his tongue, "I really do like that."

"Me too, _boyfriend_ ," Kurt laughed and covered his ears when he noticed Isabelle walking past, just in time for her to catch the word.

"OK, back to work," Blaine sighed, "I have a long day today, so I'll see you tomorrow for part one of the shoot?"

"Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Kurt almost saluted until he caught himself realizing that Blaine wouldn't see him over the phone, "though I'd say with the early start, you'll be the only one bright-eyed and bushy-haired more than anything."

"And now he mocks me again," Blaine's voice betrayed the laughter he was trying to hold back, "I get no respect."

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow?"

"You'd better," Blaine's response had the same flirty tone as Kurt's offer and the happy expression stayed in his face even when he hung up the phone.

"Kurt, my office, now," Isabelle marched past his desk and shot him a stern look.

He followed her immediately and multiple scenarios for what could've gone wrong with the photoshoot arrangement were flashing through his mind.

"Is everything OK, Isabelle?" he questioned cautiously, already planning for alternatives in his mind.

"Do you have anything you'd want to share with me, Mr. Hummel?" Isabelle's face was blank and Kurt paled when their eyes met.

_Is she angry about Blaine and me? Maybe we should've kept things under wraps until after this shoot was done._

"I'm… I'm sorry, boss. I know it was incredibly unprofessional of me to…"

"Stop, Kurt," she waited until he looked back to her.

"You…"

"So, boyfriend?"

"You're going to want the whole story, won't you?" he sigh escaping from his mouth was exasperated, but he couldn't deny that her interfering helped push him towards Blaine.

"Of course I will," Isabelle laughed, "Call it Fairy Godmother rights."

Kurt sat down in the comfortable chair and recounted everything to her that she hadn't known before, glaring as she couldn't stop laughing at both Kurt and Blaine's obliviousness.

"I'll admit it was fun to watch from afar up to that last shoot," she smiled when Kurt was done talking, "Though by then I couldn't help but stick my nose in."

"You were the one who pitched the red carpet suit idea for the BDA line, weren't you?" the last piece of the puzzle finally clicked with Kurt.

"Are you happy, Kurt? Not about my interfering or anything, but about you and him," Isabelle's voice softened.

"I am," he nodded, letting a small smile play on his lips, "I hope he is too."

"Blaine looks at you like you hung the stars," she mirrored Kurt's smile, "I don't think that will be a problem. Now, get back to work so you can get out early and have your beauty sleep. You're on camera tomorrow."

"Don't remind me, please," Kurt grumbled, "or I'll never sleep," he headed out to his desk but stopped in the doorway, "and Isabelle?" he waited until she looked up from her planner, "thank you."


	26. Chapter 25

"This should not be legal," the grumble came from behind a rack of clothes.

"What?" Kurt's voice echoed through the closet space.

"It's inhuman to wake people up this early."

Blaine appeared from behind the rack, his forehead scrunched with a frown. They were still alone in the room, Amelie and the rest of the crew not due to arrive for another half hour which they planned to use to choose the outfits for the first part of the shoot. Kurt eyed the sweaters in Blaine's hands and the shirts he had over his arms, matching them in his mind and nodding to himself.

"Oh yeah, your job is so hard," he rolled his eyes at Blaine and started arranging the clothes on a rack they allocated earlier.

"You got to go to sleep early," Blaine sighed, "I ended up with an impromptu gig that dragged out until after midnight".

"Didn't you say a while ago that you volunteered for the gig?"

"I…" Blaine grudgingly nodded, "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Just a little over-achieving, honey," Kurt stopped organizing and pulled Blaine closer, "you wouldn't be where you are now, though, if you hadn't worked so hard."

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and stretched up for a kiss that they easily lost themselves into, Kurt's hands sneaking into Blaine's freshly washed curls.

"I like your hair like this," he mumbled into Blaine's mouth, tugging gently on the hair.

"Well it's a good thing you're getting this out of your system before he's styled," Eric's voice came from the entrance, "Emma would kill you if you messed him up later."

"Hush you," Kurt shot to his friend with a grin, "you're early."

"Figured you'd need a chaperone so things don't get out of hand," Eric quipped, "what with the multiple outfit changes and impeding semi-nakedness."

Kurt groaned at the teasing and caught sight of Blaine's cheeks turning red.

"Oh good, keep that up, Eric, I won't need to use a blusher at all," a brunette said as she walked over to them, "for either of you two really."

"Knock it off, Sylvie," Kurt glared at the make-up artist and then looked around the room, "all of you."

"OK, OK," Eric lifted his hands in defense, "shall we get started now that we're almost all here then? We can set up before Amelie gets here."

"But…" Kurt started protesting weakly, but was immediately cut off by Eric.

"It's _your_ shoot, even if she's the one behind the camera, remember?"

Moments later, the room was a flurry of preparations, tables and equipment being set up, the first layers of make-up and hair products applied and Kurt's outfit for the shoot chosen as he wouldn't be the one changing. Blaine, on the other hand, managed to put his foot down on his casual jeans and shirt being the initial outfit, since they were trying to shoot a progression that would start with his own clothes.

Amelie arrived when they were almost done with the setting up and dragged Kurt away to discuss the details of how he imagined the shoot. They got caught up in throwing around more ideas than they'd exchanged over emails the day before, scrapped some original ones and replaced them with new ones that seemed more fun. When they finally put down the notes they were taking and turned to the rest of the crew and Blaine, Kurt's breath caught in his throat at the sight in front of him.

"Are we ready to go, boss?" Eric piped up from the corner, but Kurt's eyes didn't move from Blaine, who stood by the clothes rack, his shirt unbuttoned and ready to be taken off.


	27. Chapter 26

_Shit._

"Y-yeah," Kurt nodded as he stuttered out the reply, "let's just…"

He moved slowly towards the clothes, all too aware of the eyes on him and tried not to startle when he heard the first click of the camera shutter. It wasn't easy to remind himself that they had a job to do and a script to follow, not when Blaine was standing in front of him, shirt wide open and revealing more of his chest than Kurt had, rather unrealistically considering the script for the shoot, expected to have to deal with.

"What outfit's first?" Blaine glanced over to Kurt, a smile playing on his lips.

_He's doing this on purpose_ , Kurt finally caught on, _well, this should be interesting._

Reminding himself of the other people in the room, he walked closer and his expression was unreadable while his thoughts swirled with possibilities.

"Let me," he moved Blaine's hand away from the shirt he was reaching for, "not that one," Kurt pulled a short-sleeved shirt off a hanger."

"Shouldn't wardrobe be handling this?" Blaine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mel will take over in a moment," Kurt replied flatly, "I just want to make sure this is a good start. Shirt off," he looked up to Blaine with the last two words.

He noticed Blaine's pupils widen and the blush increased its intensity. Blaine's shirt came off his shoulders and slid to the floor. Kurt hesitated for a moment, then held up the first chosen shirt and waited until Blaine slipped his arms into the sleeves and turned to face Kurt again.

"No, I will," Kurt swatted Blaine's fingers away as they came up to the top button, "not that one, anyway."

He closed the buttons down Blaine's chest slowly, leaving the top one open and tugged on the fabric in several places to give it a disheveled look.

"Pants?" Mel's voice startled them both a little.

Kurt shook his head at the suggestion and looked over to the rack, "let's try the shirts first and I'll take a few test shots for later."

He grabbed his camera, still aware of Eric and Amelie flitting around with their gear, and started taking photos that he figured would never get used, but were good for reference regardless. Blaine barely took his eyes of Kurt through multiple changes of shirts, unless he was told otherwise.

"Look up to the red marker," Kurt instructed after yet another change and walked closer when Blaine looked at him in confusion.

"That one," he said to Blaine as he lifted Blaine's chin gently, "the one right above the spotlight."

When Blaine was looking the right direction Kurt nodded in satisfaction then let his fingers trail down the soft curve of Blaine's neck until he heard his breathing quicken a little. With a smile, he stepped away a pointed the camera at Blaine's face.

"Don't move," he whispered and watched Blaine shiver and blink in surprise.

"Damn," Kurt heard Eric mumble behind his back, "I can't wait to see what this will look like when you have to manhandle Blaine into position on set."

Instead of answering, Kurt just turned around and shot Eric a glare. 


	28. Chapter 27

Once the first part of the shoot was wrapped, after several stops and starts during the shirt exchanges and more when Kurt was picking the rest of the outfits to match, they were all ready for a lunch break.

"That was entirely not fair," Kurt muttered to Blaine.

"Like you weren't teasing from the start," Blaine's laughter echoed through the room.

"Bending over that way just to put on your pants, though, Blaine?" Kurt rolled his eyes, "cheap move."

"You buttoning my shirt the way you did? That wasn't much better."

"I'd prefer to _un_ button it," the words were whispered into Blaine's ear as Kurt leaned in, his hands resting on Blaine's shoulders.

Everyone else had left moments ago and Kurt was all too aware of the silence around them. Blaine stretched up to brush his lips over Kurt's but pulled away all too soon.

"Later, maybe," he winked and turned to walk towards the door, calling out over his shoulder, "Come on, let's get some food."

Kurt was frozen in place until Blaine disappeared through the door, then shook his head to clear it and followed his boyfriend, a frustrated groan slipping from his lips.

Lunch was a loud affair, with everyone from the crew talking up a storm, not only planning for the rest of the shoot, but just chattering away about their weekends and plans for after work.

"Are you going to join us later, Kurt?"

He turned to Eric at the mention of his name and his face betrayed that he wasn't really paying attention to that part of the conversation.

"Join you where?"

"The new club that's opened last week," Eric explained, "Blaine said he could get us in after we'd wrapped everything tomorrow."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what kind of a club, since you're so excited about it," Kurt teased with a grin, "It's not karaoke, is it?"

"I know better than to ask you to karaoke again," Eric laughed.

"Again?" Blaine spun his head towards Eric and Kurt, "You did karaoke?"

"Sure did," Kurt blushed, "Not that I'd care to repeat that experience."

"Sung us all under the table too," Sylvie joined in, "I don't think even you could keep up, Blaine."

"That sounds a lot like a challenge," Blaine laughed.

"Have we all missed the tiny detail that I am _not_ going to karaoke again?" Kurt grumbled.

"We'll see about that," Blaine whispered into his ear while everyone else laughed, "I might have ways to persuade you."

Kurt felt the shiver running down his spine at the words in his ear and the closeness of Blaine's lips to his skin, but kept up a blank face to his own surprise.

"No can do, Mr. Anderson," he smirked, "You'd have to work way harder to get me to sing for you."

"Who said anything about you singing _for_ me?"

"You didn't have to. And do you, a professional, really want to be showed up by an amateur like me?"

"That sounds like you're at least considering it," Blaine's smile widened, "I'll take it."

"Whatever makes you happy," Kurt suddenly realized the others weren't paying attention to them anymore, wrapped up in different conversations.

"Now that, I'd be willing to elaborate on later for sure," Blaine reached for Kurt's hand under the table, "without an audience."

The tension in their corner of the table was suddenly thick enough to be cut with a knife.


	29. Chapter 28

"Guys we have to go," Eric interrupted the moment and Kurt looked up sharply, about to send a snarky response his way.

He stopped himself when he noticed that everyone else was finished and ready to head out for the second part of the shoot. Most of the faces directed at him had a smile playing on their lips and Kurt rolled his eyes, sighed and grudgingly got up, rummaging for his wallet.

"It's all taken care of, seeing as it was a work lunch," Amelie explained as she waved him off, "now come on, you two, we need to get started so we're not there until midnight."

Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand as they walked out and they all piled into cabs that brought them back to the warehouse where the last shoot had taken place. Just as before, the place was cold, but the crew soon set up heaters and everyone was flitting around faster than usual, since they were familiar with the location. Blaine's make-up was touched up, Kurt's hair fixed and they were soon in the middle of the first set of pictures.

"Move to the left a little," Kurt instructed Blaine with a frown, "put your arm over the top of the chair."

Blaine moved as he was told, but then eyed Kurt quizzically because the frown didn't disappear. Kurt walked closer, trying to not turn around at the clicks of the shutter from Amelie's direction and reached for Blaine's arm to move it.

"More like this," he said quietly, running his fingers down the exposed muscle below the short sleeve until he reached Blaine's palm and stretched his fingers out over the chair, "stay this way and look over to the window."

Blaine's eyes moved in the direction Kurt was pointing to and Kurt took a few steps back, bringing the camera to his eyes and focusing. Zooming in on Blaine's features, he snapped away for a while, only calling out a few more instructions, then quickly moved on to the next set of clothes and setting.

"Change of plans for a moment guys," Kurt stopped in the middle of one of the settings, his eyes darting to the window, "that light needs to be taken advantage of."

The sun was coming down and Kurt decided that the rays flooding the space would bring something more to the next few shots. He walked Blaine over to the window and asked him to lean against the wall next to it, lifting his chin to face the light.

"Don't move," he whispered as Blaine's eyes closed.

He heard Amelie and Eric shuffling around behind him, but all he could see were the details of Blaine's face in the viewer of his camera, the way the sun lit up his profile and the little shivers of the eyelashes as Blaine's eyes slowly opened. _Perfect_ , Kurt's thoughts supplied and a smile crept into his face.

"OK, break time, reset for the next one," he eventually called out to the crew, setting his camera down on a nearby table, "Eric, could you swap my memory card, please?"

"Sure, boss," came the reply and out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw Eric grab the camera and walk off to the room they set up for supplies.

Blaine looked over from his spot and his arm lifted, palm outstretched in an invitation.

"Hey," the whisper from Kurt's lips echoed across the room when he walked over and felt Blaine's arms pull him close.


	30. Chapter 29

"We need to get you set up for the next part," Kurt said quietly, not too eager to move out of Blaine's embrace.

"It's only two more, isn't it?"

He nodded and felt Blaine nuzzle into his neck, which sent shivers down his spine.

"You have the gig tonight again, right?" he asked and finally started slipping out of the warmth.

"Are you going to come and watch?"

There was a hint of doubt and insecurity in Blaine's voice that made Kurt want to kiss him and reassure him that he wouldn't miss the performance. Instead he nodded and reached for Blaine's hand, pulling him to the wardrobe room. There, under the curious looks from the girls and the returning clicks of Amelie's camera, Blaine changed into the next outfit, the most layered one of the entire shoot. Since it was taking longer, Kurt slipped out to check on the lights and pulled out the camera for his black and white photos so they would have something to work on in the darkroom the next morning.

"Ready, boss?" Eric called out when he walked out with Blaine in his footsteps.

"Let's get this over and done with," Kurt nodded, "before we all catch pneumonia."

As much as he hated rushing through shoots, Kurt had to acknowledge that they were losing light and the warehouse was getting beyond chilly, so the last block of pictures would end up being a torture unless they got to it fast.

"I don't need more of these," he put the camera down after only a few shots, "they'll be more for the developing part and we won't have too much time then anyway."

"Come on, Blaine," Mel called out from the wardrobe door, "Let's get you ready for bed."

Eric's mouth opened and quickly closed after a particularly scathing look from Kurt, who was all too aware of the final setting. A bed was taking up all the space on a platform on the side of the warehouse and Kurt had spent most of the shoot trying to push the images of Blaine sprawled out on it out of his mind.

_Well, so much for getting rid of those thoughts_ , Kurt sighed and tried to keep his breathing steady.

"Is it going to be awkward if I ask where and how you want me right now?" Blaine interrupted Kurt's musings.

Their gazes met for a second, just long enough for Kurt to notice the crinkles around Blaine's eyes before he looked down at the clothes. He frowned when he realized they weren't the same as the ones he chose in the closet session earlier that day but his questioning look was only met with a shrug from Blaine who was obviously waiting for instructions.

"J-just get comfortable up there," Kurt stumbled over his words, still taking in the perfectly fitting skinny jeans and the sleeveless top that was decidedly more revealing than the one he'd chosen, "don't go falling asleep, though."

The comment caused Blaine to chuckle as he was hoisting himself up on the bed. Once he settled in, he stretched his arms up and leaned against the headboard, smiling at Kurt with a glint in his eyes.

_Breathe,_ Kurt told himself and his knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip on the camera.


	31. Chapter 30

He tried to focus on the technical side to stop himself from running across the room to the bed and giving in to all the extremely inappropriate thoughts that Blaine was certainly not helping with. As the session progressed, Kurt found it more and more difficult to keep his eyes off the sliver of skin that peeked out between Blaine's top and the waistband of his jeans. What didn't help was Blaine stretching his arms further up and reaching for the headboard while a challenging smile played on his lips.

"Behave," Kurt mouthed with a stern look, but only got a smirk as a response.

Finally, he ran out of film for the black and white set and while he could've continued on digital, he was wound so tightly that it remained on the table.

"OK, we're done here, I'd say," he breathed out, relief palpable in his voice, "Amelie, did you get enough shots?"

"I got plenty, thank you," the photographer laughed, "Glad it wasn't more than any of us bargained for," she added quietly as she passed Kurt, making sure he was the only one who heard her, "you two are something else."

"Can I see?"

Kurt almost jumped when Blaine was suddenly right behind him, a robe wrapped around his shoulders to Kurt's relief. He felt the warm breath on his neck and was about to suggest that they leave looking at the photos until the next day when he felt a buzzing against his hip.

"Go away, Isabelle," he grumbled when he saw the familiar name pop up on the screen of his phone, "looks like you'll have a big audience tonight," he shot over his shoulder to Blaine.

"There's only one person I want to see there."

"I'm sure Isabelle will be pleased to hear that," Kurt couldn't resist remarking.

"I'll make sure to dedicate a song to her then."

"Blaine, can we get those clothes?" Mel called out from the other side of the room, pulling the clothing rack with her, "we need to get these back before they lock us out."

"Sure," Blaine nodded and Kurt felt him slowly pull away.

"I'll see you later, I'm going to bring these home and set up for the morning," Kurt called out after Blaine and started collecting all his equipment so he could leave.

"They'll have your name at the door," Blaine smiled and pulled his top off as he walked towards Mel, "I'll make sure there's a seat left."

"Don't forget to put Isabelle front and centre or we'll never hear the end of it."

Kurt watched Blaine slip out of the door and tried not to dwell on the amount of skin he'd just seen. There was definitely a cold shower in his very near future if he was to survive the evening and the rest of the photo shoot.

_Why did I ever think watching Blaine get dressed and undressed multiple times was a good idea?_ He thought to himself, _At least that part is now over._

With the rest of the plans for the shoot occupying his mind, Kurt finished packing up and headed home to prepare for the evening show and the day after.


	32. Chapter 31

It wasn't until almost the end of the gig that Kurt realized that accepting drinks from Isabelle was likely not one of his brightest ideas. He already felt the buzz from the alcohol and knew that standing up wouldn't be an easy task, but Blaine announced that he was on his last few songs.

"Want another one?" Isabelle leaned over so she wouldn't have to shout.

"No," Kurt felt his stomach turn, "I'm going to head soon, rehydrate with _water_ ," he said pointedly when he saw her pushing over another glass with something he was sure was alcoholic, "and try and get some sleep for tomorrow."

"You know you can do that one a day later, right?" Isabelle smiled, "it's not like there are sets involved or anything."

"We're still set up with Amelie and Eric for the afternoon, though," Kurt replied, "it wouldn't be fair to reschedule, this all was short notice enough already."

"Well, if you happen to sleep in tomorrow…"

"Isabelle, I'm just going home."

"Alone?"

"Yes," Kurt was getting irritated and the lack of filter caused by the drinks was worrying him.

The last thing he needed was to lash out at his boss, regardless of how decidedly un-boss-like her behavior got around him. He had to work in the morning and there was no way he'd even consider anything beyond getting some rest. It didn't matter how fantastic Blaine's jeans were fitting and how mesmerizing he looked on stage, completely in his element and smiling like he'd just won the lottery whenever his eyes flitted over to Kurt.

Then, finally, Blaine was talking about the last song and dispelled the disappointment from the audience by promising to come back soon. Kurt let his chin rest on his hand and leaned on the table, eyes fixed on the man on stage, singing a cover that Kurt definitely remembered from their high school years. His mind tried to mix the image of Blaine up on the stage in front of him with the memory of Blaine in the Dalton uniform and in his slightly intoxicated brain, the resulting image made it impossible to hold back a groan.

"Go get him," Isabelle whispered in his ear and he grumbled, but stood up shakily to head for the backstage area.

Blaine jumped off stage and immediately ran over to Kurt, their fingers linking and Blaine's lips brushing against his cheek once they were behind the door.

"You were amazing," Kurt whispered as he let Blaine pull him towards his dressing room, "I wish I'd seen you more often before. I can't believe I…" he paused, his brain failing to find the right words and blushed at his rambling.

"It was better playing with you in the audience," Blaine smiled and leaned in for a kiss as they slipped through the door and left the noise behind them.

"I can be, whenever you want me to," Kurt breathed out, "If you want me to."

"Of course I do," Blaine's arms wrapped around Kurt's waist, "I wish I'd been able to sing a song for you officially. They were all for you though."

"Even the one you dedicated to Isabelle?" Kurt smirked and dropped his head onto Blaine's shoulder.

"OK, maybe not that one," Blaine laughed, "I don't think _Dancing Queen_ is quite your thing."

"She was pretty impressed with the ' _only seventeen'_ part, though."

"That does not surprise me."

"You sure know plenty of tricks on how to charm ladies," Kurt muttered into Blaine's shoulder, arms wrapped tight around his boyfriend.

"Are you…" Blaine gasped and pulled away a little, "are you jealous?"

Kurt shook his head unconvincingly, and tried to not let his panic show all too much.

"Kurt," Blaine's voice softened, "what are you afraid of?"

_Whoa._

"Everything," Kurt whispered back.


	33. Chapter 32

"Kurt," Blaine's voice sounded far away and Kurt turned his face down to the floor.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was panicking all of a sudden, when only a few days before it was all giddiness and smiles and giggles and … ' _Perfect_ '. The word flashing through his mind made everything click together. It wasn't something that happened, to anyone in his life and especially not to him.

"Kurt, sweetie," Blaine came into focus again as Kurt lifted his gaze of the floor and met Blaine's worried eyes, "can we talk this through somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I…" Kurt swallowed and felt his shoulders slump, "Would you mind coming to my place? It's closer and we have the photos to take in the morning… not that I expect you to stay the night or assume you want to…"

"OK, rambly drunk," Blaine laughed softly, "I'll remember that. Of course we can go to your place, it's a safer idea anyway."

"Safer?" Kurt frowned in confusion.

"Paparazzi and fans," Blaine shrugged at the explanation, "I'll have one of the boys get you to your place and I'll sneak out after, OK?"

The additional complication of Blaine's fame hit Kurt on top of everything else and he froze mid-step on the way to the door.

"They won't see you," Blaine reassured, looking back to Kurt.

"That's not…" Kurt shook his head, "No, it's just, this is the first time it's actually hit me that you're _famous_."

"I'm not, though, not really."

"J-14 and whichever other teen magazines out there beg to differ, Mr. Anderson," Kurt smirked.

_Joking_ , he thought, _I can do joking_.

The look of relief in Blaine's face told Kurt that the smirk and teasing were a welcome turn of events from the earlier freak out. He knew they'd still need to talk and that it wouldn't be a short or easy talk, but the tension in the room eased off significantly.

"Come on, before they storm in here and catch us in a compromising position," Blaine shot back.

"I'm not the one who needs to worry about headlines in the _National Enquirer_ ," Kurt replied as they headed down the corridor.

"I'm more worried about Twitter, those people are vicious."

"Aw, but they love you there so much," Kurt nudged Blaine's shoulder and was rewarded with a puzzled look.

"And just how would _you_ know that about me and Twitter, Mr. Hummel? Have you been cyber-stalking me?" Blaine laughed, "Or worse, no, wait…"

Kurt's eyes widened as he realized where Blaine was heading with the thought.

"Do you have a Warbler blog?"

"I do _not,_ " Kurt protested immediately.

"That was…" Blaine chuckled, "Entirely believable. Yes, I completely trust your words on that, Kurt, not a smidgen of doubt."

"Fine," Kurt grumbled, "I may have done an album review on _Candlelight_ ," he saw Blaine's grin widen at the mention of his latest CD.

"I might just need to read that," he said and his eyes darted over to the bodyguard they reached at the end of the corridor, "when we're at your place, you can show me."

With that, he nudged Kurt over to the open door leading to the parking lot, then turned around and jogged back through the corridor where his manager was waiting. 


	34. Chapter 33

Kurt stumbled into his apartment and cursed himself for accepting the third drink from Isabelle yet again, because he really should've known better. He'd always been an emotional drunk, the times he actually succumbed to the temptation of alcohol or to the pressure from his classmates or co-workers, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he got unsettled. Any other time, he would've easily avoided a breakdown like that, but the stress of the day had already brought him down before he even touched the first drink.

"Hey sweetie," Blaine's voice was like a balm on his nerves, "you left the door open."

"I knew you were coming," Kurt shrugged, "at least I hoped I didn't scare you off."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

He felt Blaine's arms wrap around his waist and immediately began calming down, like Blaine was the anchor he needed to settle his shaky breathing and racing mind.

"So," Blaine whispered in his ear, "we should talk about what's got you panicking."

"Yeah," Kurt mumbled, letting himself relax into the embrace.

"Is it me? Have I done something…?"

Kurt shook his head before Blaine could finish the sentence, because his panic had nothing to do with anything his boyfriend said or did.

"No, it's…"

"If this is heading towards 'it's not you, it's me', I'll definitely start to worry," Blaine chuckled humorlessly.

"I'm not breaking up with you," Kurt whispered, "God, no."

"Good," Blaine's lips brushed against Kurt's neck, "because I'd fight you on that."

"I just," Kurt sighed, trying to figure out how to explain his mind, "This is perfect. _You_ are perfect. And perfect things don't happen in my life, that's why… I guess I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"You know I'm not letting go that easily, right?"

"I want to believe it," Kurt's whisper got lower with each word, "I really want to know this is for good, but I'm scared."

"So am I," Blaine admitted, "But… I know it's been such a short time and it might seem too soon… I'm already falling in love with you, Kurt. There's no going back for me."

"I…"

Kurt turned around in Blaine's arms and felt the smile tugging on his lips.

"I've fallen in love with you already," he whispered and leaned in for a kiss.

They stayed like that for a while, kissing gently; their arms wrapped around each other but unmoving, letting the weight of the confessions sink in. Until Blaine pulled away and brushed his thumb over Kurt's jaw, following the movement with his eyes.

"We should get some sleep," he muttered, "I have to be back in the morning for the photos."

"Stay," Kurt breathed out before he could stop himself, "You're already here… please, stay."

"Are you sure?"

Kurt nodded and waited for Blaine's quiet "OK" then linked their fingers together and led Blaine towards the bedroom, still feeling a little jittery but a lot calmer than earlier in the evening.

"I don't have ulterior motives," he explained when he pulled away once they were in the room and rummaged through his drawer for clothes they could sleep in, "I just don't… I don't want to sleep alone tonight."

"Thank you," Blaine grabbed the clothes he was handed over, "Me either."

They changed in silence and soon were both slipping under the blanket, immediately moving close to each other. Without needing to talk, Blaine stretched out on his back and wrapped his arms around Kurt, who rested his head on Blaine's chest, letting the steady heartbeat lull him into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'll be traveling for the next 10 days & I've no idea how my internet's going to be (OK, OK, there's always Starbucks to get WiFi in. I hope). Just a heads up, though, that the updates over Easter might be less frequent. <3 Sorry!


	35. Chapter 34

Kurt's eyes flew open and he looked around in panic when he woke up alone, with the sun shining through the open window. He didn't remember turning off the alarm or even stirring at the time it was supposed to go off, but it was most definitely later than he meant to get up. It only added to his confusion that he distinctly remembered Blaine's arms wrapped around him when he fell asleep, but there was no sign of his boyfriend in the room. Trying to push away his panic, he climbed out of bed and shuffled slowly into the kitchen. It was only when he was walking through the door that a faint sound of humming reached his ears and a smile immediately tugged on his lips.

"Hey baby," Blaine turned around at the sound of Kurt clearing his throat quietly, "Did you have a nice rest?"

"I did," Kurt walked closer and brushed his lips against Blaine's cheek, "Someone let me sleep in, though and now we're behind schedule," he attempted a stern look.

"We're in no rush, though, it's only us in the darkroom this morning," Blaine replied, handing over a cup of coffee, "and it still _is_ morning."

"There's the afternoon in the office, though," Kurt tried to protest.

"And we will be there on time. Don't panic."

"I'm not…"

The questioning look in Blaine's face made it obvious that Kurt wasn't fooling Blaine in the slightest, so he took a deep breath and practically inhaled his coffee before he attempted to do anything else.

"We'll be on time," Blaine repeated, "you just need to throw some clothes on, I already got the camera ready like you showed me the last time and we're set to go."

"I can't just…" Kurt groaned, "I'll be the one on camera, it's not that simple."

"You look fantastic no matter what," Blaine's arms slipped around Kurt's waist as they both moved towards the sink to put away their empty cups, "you could just stay like this."

"There you go with the flattery again," Kurt grinned and the tension began slipping away from his body, "you really think I should pose in just my pyjama bottoms?"

Blaine gulped as his fingers slid over the skin on Kurt's sides, "Maybe not, but only because I might find it hard to concentrate."

Kurt felt the warm lips leaving butterfly kisses on his shoulders and shivered, enjoying the touch wait too much to want to cover up and get to work.

"We should…"

"Yeah…"

Neither of them had the necessary will to move yet, just letting the togetherness and the peaceful feel of the morning wash over them.

"This is nice, though," Kurt finally managed to speak, "having you here in the morning."

"I hope it won't be a rare occasion," Blaine muttered into Kurt's neck, "I like it too."

Eventually, Kurt shook his head and sighed with a glance at the clock on the wall.

"Ok, work," he said with a determined tone, "we need to get this done, sweetie. I need to get dressed."

"If you must," the reluctance was as obvious in Blaine's voice as in the way he let his hands fall from Kurt's waist, "Though, I can't wait what to see what outfit you deemed good enough to be photographed in."


	36. Chapter 35

"This is weird," Kurt grumbled when they were finally in the darkroom, with regular lights on since it was all for show, for the part of the shoot to show how the photos got developed.

There was a row of pictures from previous shoots, a few printouts from the one the day before to keep some continuity, but not the black and white ones that needed proper developing. Kurt cringed from the moment that Blaine pointed the camera at him, all too aware of the lens focus.

"Relax, babe, no one else is here," Blaine grinned, "it's just you and me, having a little fun."

"Not what I count as _fun_ , Blaine."

"Of course, it's a _dark_ room, we could have way more fun if it was actually dark," Blaine teased.

Kurt shot him a glare and then turned back to the fake strip of film he put under the zoom, sighing to himself and muttering words not even intelligible to his own mind.

"Relax, honey," Blaine came over closer and Kurt felt the reassuring kiss on his cheek, "You're looking fantastic, you just need to focus on doing what you normally do."

"Normally I'm alone and stare at photos of you in a manner that's rather not appropriate for publishable photos," Kurt shot back, relishing in the blush that immediately spread over Blaine's cheek.

"Tell me more about that." Blaine smirked after a moment of what looked like catching his breath, false bravado in his voice.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know," Kurt grinned over his shoulder and immediately cringed when the shutter sound followed that comment.

"I would, very much so, like to hear how much staring at my photos has been done in this room," Blaine countered without the hesitation this time.

"Well, there was the time when Eric was helping…"

The look on Blaine's face made Kurt explode in giggles after about half a second of trying to hold them in.

"Let's just… get this over with," he sighed when he calmed down and Blaine's face rearranged from the complete disbelief.

Kurt started moving things around and continuing the pretend work on photos, setting out some more on the line eventually,  looking over the selection with a frown. Then he noticed that the shutter stopped clicking and turned to find Blaine just standing and looking at him.

"What?" Kurt asked, a little defensively.

"You look so focused when you're doing that, even when it's just pretend, the way you fell into the motions… it's sort of fascinating to watch," Blaine stepped closer and handed the camera over.

For a moment, Kurt resisted the urge to immediately look through the photos to make sure they didn't need to take any more or redo the entire part. Instead, he pulled Blaine closer and kissed him, gently and with a smile tugging on his lips.

"That was what I thought whenever I saw you on stage," Kurt explained when he pulled away.

There was a moment's pause and Blaine started shuffling awkwardly.

"OK, tell me how badly I messed this up," he finally pointed to the camera.

Kurt rolled his eyes and switched the small preview screen on, but after a few photos sighed at how little he could make out.

"Let's get these on the laptop, then I can be all condescending on your skills," he joked and pulled Blaine out of the darkroom. 


	37. Chapter 36

When they finally got to the Vogue offices, Blaine was immediately whisked off to one of the meeting rooms with Amelie for some photos of him being "interviewed" while Kurt headed to his desk to fix up photos and pick out the ones for the actual article. Since it was the first time they were separated for longer than a few minutes in two days, Kurt began feeling restless about half hour into his part.

"OK, we're done here," Eric finally turned the camera off and handed it to Kurt another half hour later, "you've all these in, Amelie will bring hers in … right about now, along with loverboy."

"Shut up," Kurt tossed a paper ball at his colleague but turned around immediately to find Blaine approaching his desk.

"Do you have a lot to do here?" Blaine said quietly as he sat down on the edge of the desk, leaning to look at Kurt's screen.

"No, I'll be done in a few," Kurt plugged in the memory card from Eric's camera, "Just some copying over and then I can come back tomorrow to actually work on the photos."

"Party!" Eric called out across the room, "Two days of hard work warrants a party!"

"It's Friday, not like you don't go out to party every week, Eric," Kurt groaned.

"But it's the new place," Eric walked over, "The one Blaine said he can get us into."

"Sure can," Blaine grinned, much to Kurt's chagrin, "We're all already on the list for tonight."

"Are we getting VIP treatment?" Amelie piped in with a question.

"Nothing but the best for my favorite team," Blaine smirked.

"You mean for Kurt and since he comes with all of us, we get to benefit," Eric laughed.

"I'm presuming you didn't forget me?" Isabelle stuck her head out of her office, a teasing glint in her eye.

"Of course not!"

Moments later, the enthusiasm about the upcoming night out petered off a little and Kurt finished copying over the photos from Amelie's camera, lingering a little on a few where Blaine's expression could only be described as "dreamy".

"Got lost in thought there a little, sweetie?" Kurt teased and watched as a blush crept into Blaine's cheeks.

"Yeah, the interviewer asked about you when Amelie made a comment."

"Of course she did. Of course Amelie did," Kurt threw a glare towards the photographer who was lost in a conversation with Eric on the other side of the room.

"Aw come on, they're happy for you, that's all," Blaine said with a smile and shuffled closer when he saw Kurt turning off his computer, "now, about this club…"

Kurt rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration.

"What's wrong with going to a nightclub? Do you not want to go? We can do something else, those guys can still go, I mean, they're already on the list anyway and I don't need to be there…"

Kurt's look softened at Blaine's nervous rambling and he reached out to grab his boyfriend's hand.

"It's OK, I just… me preparing for a night out requires time, for one thing," Kurt explained quietly, "for another, _those guys_ will get completely wasted and they're insufferable that way."

"You'll have me, though," Blaine actually fluttered his eyelashes in a mock-flirty way, "I'm sure I can keep you occupied."

"Oh you'd better," Kurt laughed, "I'll meet you there?"

Blaine nodded and slid off the desk, leaning in for a quick kiss before he headed out waving to everyone in the office with a "See you later."


	38. Chapter 37

Kurt realized he was spending all too long picking his outfit for the night out when his phone rang for the fifth time with yet another message from Isabelle asking for a call back. Reluctantly, he pulled himself away from his closet and all the potential options and grabbed the phone off his nightstand.

"Hel-"

"Black tight denim, dark purple shirt, comfortable shoes," Isabelle's voice jumped out at him without letting him finish even the greeting.

"Isabelle, what?"

"You're thinking it over too much," she laughed, "I know you are, you just walked away from your hangers and have about five… no, wait, six outfit options in your mind."

"How do you…"

"As I said, I know you," his boss repeated, "Keep it simple, the boy is already head over heels."

" _Fine_ ," Kurt grumbled, "you are the expert after all. Are you joining us?"

"Maybe for a while," she replied, "wouldn't want to cramp your style."

"Or show us up as being incapable of partying well?"

"There's that," she deadpanned, "if I'm not there, you won't look like complete bores."

"Thank you?" Kurt's words came out as a question but he was laughing.

"OK, go, have some fun tonight. Just keep it legal, wouldn't want to be bailing my team out in the middle of the night."

"Yes boss," Kurt smirked and nearly saluted, then hung up, still laughing.

Half an hour later he was glaring at the pile of jeans he tried on and discarded, none of them feeling quite like the right choice. He almost ignored the beeping of his phone, but grabbed it and Isabelle's name flashed at him from the screen.

_Black ones, with the safety pins on the sides. Don't ask, don't overthink, wear them._

Kurt sighed as he dropped the phone back on the bed. He knew exactly which pair of jeans Isabelle meant and he reluctantly pulled them out from the bottom of the "no way in hell" pile. They were the first to go there, because it was only very rare that he felt in the mood to wear them.

He added a plain enough red button-up and his favorite boots, then got a jacket and headed out to the cab that he'd booked earlier in the day. There was no way he was risking driving, not only because of the traffic but also because he knew he would not get a chance to avoid drinking.

"Kurt, Kurt, we're here!" he heard Eric's voice over the noise of the full club when he managed to get through security and confirmed his name on the list, "shots to say hello!"

He glared at his colleagues but gulped down the contents of the two small glasses that Eric pushed into his hands before Kurt even took his jacket off.

Once he handed the empty glasses back and tossed his jacket into the corner of the group's reserved booth, his eyes skimmed over everyone with a quick hello on his lips. When his gaze made it to the end of the booth, he was met with Blaine's hazel eyes, wide open shocked.

"Hi," Kurt smiled and took a step closer, "Is the outfit that bad?" he joked when Blaine remained silent.


	39. Chapter 38

When Blaine stepped closer, still not saying a word, Kurt began to feel nervous despite the faux bravado brought on by the alcohol that was making its presence known. He felt dizzy with not only the drink rushing through his body but also Blaine's closeness.

"It's…" Blaine whispered right into Kurt's ear, their bodies now flush against each other, " _fuck_ , you're hot."

Kurt blushed, the remainder of nerves slowly washing away but not quite fast enough.

"You're not too bad either, Mr. Anderson," he grinned and dropped his head to Blaine's shoulder, "In fact, you're looking rather delicious.

He pulled away from Blaine to look over the outfit on his boyfriend, but found it hard to focus on any details beyond the blood red color of the shirt and the way Blaine's jeans fit snugly around his waist.

"Dance with me," Blaine offered his hand and it only took a few seconds for Kurt to accept.

They headed straight for the middle of the dance floor, finding a spot right in the middle of the dancing crowd that gave them an illusion of privacy because no one seemed to be paying attention to them. Kurt hesitated for a while, but soon Blaine's hands were guiding his hips in a movement that made them almost grind into each other and soon enough Kurt let his own hands wander over the fabric of Blaine's shirt. As the music continued and they melted into the rhythm of the bass line, Kurt became braver with not only his movements but also his hands.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Hummel," Blaine muttered when he leaned closer, trapping Kurt's hands between them as they were tracing the outline of the shirt buttons.

"Maybe," Kurt grinned mischievously, "Do I stand a chance?"

"I was yours for a long time before you started trying," Blaine said just loud enough to be heard over the music, "long before either of us knew."

Kurt felt his heart flutter at the admission and reached up to cup Blaine's cheek before he brought their mouths together in a heated kiss. They barely noticed that they stopped dancing, lost in the heat of the moment and kissing in the middle of the dance floor like they couldn't breathe away from each other.

"Let's get out of here," Kurt finally pulled away, "I don't care that it's early, or that we barely just got here, I just…"

"Yeah," Blaine replied breathlessly, pulling Kurt towards the table they had reserved and where the rest of their group was sitting and watching them with amusement.

It only took minutes to make sure that the table was covered for the night and that they could leave, Blaine making sure the tab would be signed over to him and Kurt quietly pleading with everyone to not take advantage. Once they were both happy with the arrangement, they got basically pushed out of the door by everyone else with comments varying from 'Go get some, boys' to 'Sure, just leave us here alone' all of which caused them to giggle as they grabbed a cab and headed for Kurt's house.


	40. Chapter 39

"Oh god, turn it off," Kurt grumbled as the incessant beeping continued to make him feel like a hammer was pounding into his head, "please turn it off."

He felt Blaine groan next to him and dug deeper under the blanket until his own phone started buzzing enough to make him peek out from his quiet place and grab for it clumsily.

"What in the…" he sighed and rubbed his eyes just enough to see the screen somewhat clearly.

"Fuck!"

Kurt turned around to Blaine as fast as he could, headache very slowly fading away, but panic kicking in fast at the look in his boyfriend's face.

"What…?"

Blaine kept staring at his phone, muttering to himself and typing up quick responses to texts that kept flooding to his phone. Seeing that Blaine was not able to explain what was going on yet, Kurt turned to his own phone and opened the first message that was, to his own surprise, from Amelia.

"Shit," he groaned when a picture popped up at him from the screen, captioned with what was supposed to be a joking 'looking good boys'.

By the time he made his way through all his text messages, not bothering to reply to any of them yet, Kurt was rubbing his temples and beyond words. He occasionally glanced up to Blaine and breathed in relief when his boyfriend's face lost the panicky look and turned into a more determined one.

"How bad is it?" Kurt asked cautiously, ignoring his phone's returned buzzing.

Blaine looked away from the phone screen and smiled softly, "It's actually not, now that I've talked to my manager, but…"

Kurt shifted a little closer as Blaine stretched his arm out towards him and they leaned into the pillows stacked against the headboard.

"It won't go away, though," Blaine continued quietly, "There's already a headline on at least one blog and they're very curious as to who you are."

"They don't know?" Kurt looked up with a confused look.

"Not yet, though I'm sure they'll connect the dots soon," Blaine explained, "Or…"

"Or what?"

"Or we could connect the dots for them, on our terms."

Kurt froze and pondered the suggestion, not quite sure what that would entail, so he turned to look at Blaine properly and asked for an explanation.

"It's not my suggestion," Blaine started, "but it might work out well."

"Come on, tell me, it can't be that bad," Kurt sighed, getting impatient.

"OK, OK," a smile crept into Blaine's face, "it's the article we just finished," he waited for Kurt to nod in acknowledgment, "we could… do the interview together?"

"And … go public?"

"Only if you want to," Blaine leaned closer and kissed Kurt reassuringly, "I don't want to push you into anything."

"I know you don't," Kurt smiled, "Do _you_ want to do this?"

"Scream from the rooftops that you're my boyfriend? Or, well, have it in print? Of course I do."

"Then I don't see why not," Kurt's smile widened and he couldn't stop the giggle as Blaine rolled them over and started placing giddy and eager kisses all over Kurt's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **And that's all folks. Epilogue to follow soon, but the boys' story is told as far as I wanted it to. Everyone who read/reviewed/followed this story: Thank you so very much!**
> 
> ****  
> There will be a post for any outtakes anyone might be inclined to request over on tumblr in the near future ;)


	41. Epilogue

**Vogue presents: BDA - behind the scenes**

They're like any other happy couple you'd see on the streets of New York City: they smile a lot, they have the glow of "we're still only falling and don't want to stop" about them, they hold hands like it's the most miraculous thing they've experienced, they make you smile just because you looked at them.

"We never _tried_ to hide," says Blaine Anderson to me when I ask why this interview and why now, after the headlines of him and his boyfriend dancing and kissing in a club hit the front pages, "but it was still early days… it still _is_ early days in our relationship and we didn't want it all over the media too much. But now that it's already out there…"

I had the pleasure to be invited to the couple's homes, for the interview itself and for the walk through the photo shoot accompanying it. "As I said to Blaine," Kurt Hummel, the art director of the photoshoots for the _BDA_ line including this one, tells me when I query their decision to invite a reporter into their personal space, "I've expected a level of privacy loss. It's worth it, at the end." By that, he means being a part of the couple that's been setting the gossip blogs alight with speculation since they were photographed together for the first time.

"It was a mutual decision," Blaine explains, "But mostly, I want Kurt to get the acknowledgment he deserves for the work he put into every photoshoot."

Indeed, the vision behind the _BDA_ line's promotion was entirely Kurt's, though he does insist on mentioning the input of not only his right hand, Eric Martens, who shot most of the behind-the-scenes photos this time, but also the make-up and wardrobe team, all listed in the credits at the end. What didn't show in the initial, breathtaking yet utterly professional photos for the official lines is the personal touch and glimpse into the private bubble between Kurt and Blaine. The darkroom process photographed by none other than Blaine himself ("I'm not a photographer, I only tried to capture Kurt as I see him," he insists) and the moments captured during the set ups and between shots show two people having a bond most of us dream to find.

"I'm not a celebrity," Kurt says to me towards the end our interview, "And I'm not trying to just bask in Blaine's spotlight. I'm just here to help him with his unfortunate fashion sense." "Don't say that, my fans think that's all me," Blaine replies with a laugh, both of them slipping into easy banter. "You and I both know that's not true. They're all grateful you have a fashion guru to guide you now." "Nowhere near as grateful as I am."

Sometimes it's true, even those who seem to be on a different level, unreachable due to their celebrity status, are just like any other person behind all the glitz and glamour. For Kurt and Blaine, a line of clothing led to them finding something special and we got to be the lucky spectators to a love story that's one to remember. 

-The End-


End file.
